cannabisnews.com: U.N. Panel Accuses Taliban of Selling Drugs 





U.N. Panel Accuses Taliban of Selling Drugs 
Posted by FoM on May 26, 2001 at 07:45:09 PT
By Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
A U.N. panel accused Afghanistan's Taliban rulers Friday of selling opium and heroin to finance its war against northern rebels and to train terrorists. It called for the United Nations to monitor the drug trade as part of an existing arms embargo. In a report to the Security Council, the five-member panel questioned the sincerity of the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, when he banned the cultivation last July of poppy, the raw material used to make heroin and opium. 
The report said the Taliban was stockpiling the drugs, suggesting it only halted production in order to keep opium and heroin prices from plummeting. According to the U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Afghanistan's opium production was about 2,500 tons in 1998, 4,600 tons in 1999, and 3,100 tons in 2000. "If Taliban officials were sincere in stopping the production of opium and heroin, then one would expect them to order the destruction of all stocks existing in areas under their control," the report said. The panel, established to make recommendations on how best to monitor a U.N. arms embargo and the closure of terrorist training camps, said it was essential to look into the illicit drug trade because drug money was being used to buy weapons and "finance the training of terrorists and support the operations of extremists in neighboring countries and beyond." Laili Helms of New Jersey, an adviser to the Taliban in the United States, said most drugs go from the area controlled by the anti-Taliban opposition in the north to Tajikistan and Russia and most arms come in through the same route. There is no arms embargo on the opposition forces. "I think their recommendations reflect the hypocrisy with which the United Nations has dealt with Afghanistan," she said. The Security Council froze Taliban assets and imposed an international flight ban on Ariana airlines in November 1999 to pressure the hardline militia to turn over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden is charged in the twin U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in August 1998. The council then imposed an arms embargo on the Taliban, which controls about 95 percent of Afghanistan, in January. The panel called for the establishment of international teams in countries neighboring Afghanistan to beef-up monitoring of the sanctions and a new U.N. office to oversee sanctions enforcement, possibly headquartered in Vienna. The report said fuel for aircraft and armored vehicles should be included in the arms embargo. In enforcing the arms embargo, the panel called for monitoring the movement of acetic anhydride, a key ingredient to turn opium into heroin. The panel noted that Afghanistan supplied as much as 79 percent of the world's opium in 1999. Between October 2000 and March 2001, the panel said 12,980 pounds of heroin were seized in Europe, the majority from Afghanistan. It said that indicates the Taliban still has large quantities of the drugs in stock. The Security Council is expected to consider the report's recommendations in early June, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Complete Title: U.N. Panel Accuses Taliban of Selling Drugs To Finance War and Train Terrorists Source: Associated PressAuthor: Edith M. Lederer, The Associated PressPublished: May 25, 2001Copyright: 2001 Associated Press Extra:Bush Gives Taliban $43 Million To Fight Opium: The Bush administration has given Afghanistan $43 million including $10 million for “other livelihood and food security programs,” a reference to the ruling Taliban's ban on poppy cultivation that dramatically changed the economy of the war-torn nation. The poppy is the source of opium and the crop had provided significant revenues to Afghan farmers. The aid was described as humanitarian.In addition to being an ally in the U.S. war against drugs, the Taliban also has banned the education of girls and women. It has banned women from professions and from most outside-the-home employment, even with international relief agencies. It has banned women from seeing male doctors and it prevents women from practicing medicine.Colin Powell, in announcing the gift, said the administration hoped that the Taliban “will act on a number of fundamental issues that separate us: their support of terrorism, their violation of internationally recognized human rights--especially their treatment of women and girls--and their refusal to resolve Afghanistan's civil war through a negotiated settlement.” He also called on other nation's to join the U.S. with “dispatch and energy.” Source: Women's EnewsPublished: May 26, 2001Copyright: 2001 NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund Contact: editors womensenews.orgWebsite: http://www.womensenews.org/ Related Articles:Taliban Do What 'Just Say No' Could Nothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9849.shtmlBush's Faustian Deal With The Talibanhttp://mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n922/a09.htmlCattlemen in Lebanon Miss Lucre of Hashishhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9276.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Talibanhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Taliban 
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Comment #3 posted by Dan B on May 26, 2001 at 21:33:36 PT:
I'd Been Waiting For This
As Darb pointed out, what a wonderful counterpart this article makes to the one posted just two days ago in the NYT. When I read that article, I responded with outrage that they would be so laudatory toward a government known for its flagrant human rights violations, and I believe such outrage was justified.Now, we have a story that confirms many of our suspicions that the opium was not really "gone," just removed from public display. 3200 tons of opium is a pretty hefty amount.By the way, did anyone notice the recent story about a Russian/Ukranian ship carrying tons of cocaine being caught off America's Pacific coast? Interesting that this coke seems to have come from a place far away from Colombia. It seems that South America does not have a corner on the market for cocaine. What a surprise that bust must have been to U.S. Customs agents and drug warriors everywhere!Even as the drug warriors claim victory, these stories continually rise to the surface, proving them wrong time after time. Dan B
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Comment #2 posted by Darb on May 26, 2001 at 16:43:50 PT
Surprise, Indeed
As I read through this, I couldn't help but laugh as I remember this article from the NYT just a few days ago.http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread9849.shtmlBut I thought that our US inspectors found that all these illegal drugs had magically dissappeared from this country? Looks as if they've just taken the meanial peasants out of business and left it up to the government to reap the profits.I'm actually glad this information came out, because when I read that NYT article, it sounded as if they were suggesting we needed a 'national religion' to work with our government to eliminate drugs and dictate what we can and can not do. This just shows how things go when religious fervor dictates national policy, it leaves PLENTY of room for corruption. I hope the 'Times' realizes how foolish this makes them look just two days after the other article was posted, and maybe they will investigate things a little closer rather than take propaganda at face value, as they so often have done lately. Though, I doubt that they will.
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on May 26, 2001 at 13:15:22 PT:
Surprise!
Anyone who is shocked by this story is a moron. Wait, I'm very sorry. That statement is insulting to morons.Let me clue in the clueless. The Taliban do not think like us. It is a virtue to them to confound their enemies. They have used Amerika and seek to cut its throat tomorrow. If the Feds were smart, they would ask for their $43 million back, invest it in supplying cannabis to sick people in this country, and ignore Afghanistan until natural forces install a regime with a semblance of humanity.
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