"RAW Totay": The conspiracy theory parrots. The supporters of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Taliban remember Lal Masjid and shed crocodile tears....

In this op-ed, Asadullah Ghalib spanks "RAW Totay" (e.g. Javed Chaudhry, Hamid Mir, Kashif Abbasi, Ansar Abbasi, Orya Maqbool Jan, Irfan Siddiqi): The conspiracy theory parrots. Shame on the supporters of extremist of Lal Masjid, Sipah-e-Sahaba and Taliban and the crocodile tears....

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Munir Attaullah: Conspiracy. Will anyone tell me who these terrorists are?

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The Taliban terrorists in Pakistan are being funded by drug trade in Afghanistan - Who are the sponsors? CIA, NATO and the Karzai Government

Getting Afghanistan together

President Asif Ali Zardari is supposed to have told the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State, Mr Richard Boucher, that the growing production of drugs in Afghanistan was having ill effects in Pakistan since the terrorists were now being funded increasingly with drug money. He said one reason terrorism had increased was Pakistan’s interdiction of the drug routes in Pakistan, and if the war against terrorism had to be won the allied forces in Afghanistan must stop drug production in Afghanistan. This was important, he argued, because the battle in Pakistan was turning and local tribal lashkars were increasingly taking on the intruders.

There are differing accounts of the scale of poppy production in Afghanistan, which is later turned into heroin and smuggled out of Afghanistan. The total money thus made in Afghanistan is said to be around $4 billion, out of which a trickle coming into the hands of the terrorists in Pakistan is enough to tilt the scales. According to Pakistan, 28 out of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan are producing poppy, but the British Foreign Secretary Mr David Miliband says only 16 are still involved in it. Whatever the right figure, some money from drugs is coming into the coffers of Al Qaeda from this sector. Of course, this is not the only source of income the terrorists have. The Taliban run their own government, taking their cut from the smuggling activity going on in the area under their control.

The flaw lay in the early US policy in Afghanistan when the Americans wanted as many Afghan elements on their side as possible because of the Rumsfeldian policy of having a minimum of American soldiers on ground. The warlords, already notorious for changing sides and amassing illegal wealth through smuggling and kidnapping for ransom, were actually bought off with millions of dollars. Later these warlords allowed massive cultivation of poppy in areas under their control and began another round of global circulation of heroin with Afghanistan marked on it as country of origin.

This has affected governance in Afghanistan. The warlords have jealously guarded their territories and not allowed the Karzai government to extend its outreach from the city of Kabul. What is worse, the government has got involved in the smuggling of drugs or facilitating it for a cut because funds are scarce or are monitored so strictly by the donors that the rulers have problems of personal liquidity. As we have seen from the attitudes bred by heroin-smuggling in Pakistan in the early 1990s, the rulers in Kabul might actually be looking at heroin as Afghanistan’s “response” to what they see as neglect on the part of the international community.

What is worse is that Britain has set another trend that must demoralise the Karzai government and everyone else. Two important British personages in Afghanistan have stated that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won and that the only way to solve the problem of terrorism was to negotiate with the Taliban. As The Economist put it: “Two reported sets of comments by senior British figures — the ambassador to Kabul, Sherard Cowper-Coles, and the recently-departed British military commander (of the Helmand province), Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith — have raised concern that the British are tiring of the fight”. Now both gentlemen are saying that they were “misrepresented”, causing more confusion.

The Pakistani establishment must detect a trend in allied thinking that cannot encourage it too much. The Americans have come down very hard on Pakistan every time it has engaged in dialogue with the militants and made “peace” deals with them. In fact the claim was that each deal made in the Tribal Areas had led to the escalation in the Taliban forays into Afghanistan. But now the British have set off a new “retreating” opinion which is being repeated by the Americans commanders too because they know that the Bush Administration is about to leave the scene. The joint UK-US line is that the time to leave for them will draw near as the Afghan army and police get on with the job in sufficient numbers. Mr Miliband is looking forward to the day the Afghan army will increase from its present strength of 65,000 to 134,000 by 2012.

The war in Afghanistan is for the long term. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan have to fight it and both will have to be helped by the international community if it doesn’t want to become hostage to the global strategy of Al Qaeda. The year 2008 is crucial because this is where the global economy will demonstrate its ability to survive. This is also the year when Al Qaeda will have to be taken on in real earnest. Or the economic survival of Afghanistan and Pakistan will be negated by the anarchic dominance of the terrorists. (Daily Times)
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The war on terror and the war on drugs (What is Nato doing in Afghanistan? Ensuring that the Taliban get due share in the drug business.

The war on drugs

By Jerome Starkey

NATO and the US are ramping up the war on drugs in Afghanistan. American ground forces are set to help guard poppy eradication teams for the first time later this year, while Nato’s defence ministers agreed to let their 50,000-strong force target heroin laboratories and smuggling networks.

Until now, going after drug lords and their labs was down to a small and secretive band of Afghan commandos, known as Taskforce 333, and their mentors from Britain’s Special Boat Service. Eradicating poppy fields was the job of specially trained, but poorly resourced, police left to protect themselves from angry farmers. All that is set to change.

Afghanistan is by far and away the world’s leading producer of opium. Opium is made from poppies, and it is used to make heroin. Heroin from Afghanistan is smuggled through Pakistan, Russia, Iran and Turkey until it ends up on Europe’s streets.

In 2008, in Afghanistan, 157,000 hectares (610 square miles) were given over to growing poppies and they produced 7,700 tonnes of opium. Production has soared to such an extent in recent years that supply is outstripping demand. Global demand is only about 4,000 tonnes of opium per year, which has meant the price of opium has dropped. In Helmand alone, where most of Britain’s 8,000 troops are based, 103,000 hectares were devoted to poppy crops. If the province was a country, it would be the world’s biggest opium producer.

In 2007, the UN calculated that Afghan opium farmers made about $1bn from their poppy harvests. The total export value was $4bn n or 53 per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP.

There was a 19 per cent drop in cultivation from 2007 to 2008, but bumper yields meant opium production only fell by six per cent. Only 3.5 per cent of the country’s poppy fields were eradicated in 2008. High wheat prices and low opium prices are also a factor in persuading some farmers to switch to licit crops.

In Helmand, one of the most volatile parts of Afghanistan, production rose by one per cent as farmers invested opium profits in reclaiming tracts of desert with expensive irrigation schemes. Opium production was actually at its lowest in 2001. The Taliban launched a highly effective counter-narcotics campaign during their last year in power. They used a policy of summary execution to scare farmers into not planting opium. Many analysts attribute their loss of popular support in the south, which contributed to their defeat by US-led forces in late 2001, to this policy.

The Taliban control huge swaths of Afghanistan’s countryside, where most of the poppies are grown. They tax the farmers 10 per cent of the farm gate value of their crops. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said the Taliban made about 50 million pounds from opium in 2007.

They also extort protection money from the drugs smugglers, for guarding convoys and laboratories where opium is processed into heroin. The UN and Nato believe the insurgents get roughly 60 per cent of their annual income from drugs. The Taliban and the drug smugglers also share a vested interest in undermining President Hamid Karzai’s government, and fighting the international forces, which have both vowed to try and wipe out the opium trade.

The vast sums of drugs money sloshing around Afghanistan’s economy mean it is all too easy for the opium barons to buy off corrupt officials.

When an Afghan counter-narcotics chief found nine tonnes of opium in a former Helmand governor’s compound, he was told not to burn it by Kabul — but he claims he ignored the order.

President Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, is widely rumoured to be involved in the drugs trade — an allegation he denies. The New York Times claimed US investigators found evidence that he had ordered a local security official to release an “enormous cache of heroin” discovered in a tractor trailer in 2004. Privately, Western security officials admit they suspect that a number of government ministers are drug dealers.

— © The Independent
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The drug trade is funding the Taliban's terrorist activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Are NATO forces invovled in this business?

Afghanistan’s narco menace

SO closely linked are the problems of insurgency and drug trafficking in Afghanistan that it is no surprise that Nato has extended its mandate to crush the narcotics trade in the country. But the success of such an operation is in doubt. Some Nato members have had valid reasons to fear that destroying the drug economy would mean alienating a large section of the population dependent on it. There have also been apprehensions that assigning another task to Nato would divert the military alliance’s focus from its main responsibility of fighting the Taliban. Nevertheless, the situation cries out for action. Despite the recent decline in production, Afghanistan still generates some 90 per cent of the world’s opium; the drug trade funds the Taliban in a big way (to the tune of approximately $100m); and the illicit drug economy is equivalent to about half the country’s GDP.

Unfortunately, the political government has not been able to root out the narcotics scourge — no surprise since many elements thought to be boosting the narco trade are political figures. Even President Hamid Karzai’s brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, is believed to be a beneficiary of the drug trade, a charge he has denied. With corruption endemic in the ranks of the country’s political elite, it is no wonder that lower-level officials including police chiefs and judges are not immune from its influence. Warlords and others sponsoring the drug trade are thus able to bribe their way out of possible prosecution.

Given this reality, it would be overly optimistic to suppose that even a foreign force as well-armed as Nato and with the ability to strike at narcotics labs would be able to achieve much in rooting out the menace. It is, in fact, the Afghan government that should be taking the lead in halting poppy cultivation in the country. For this, it is necessary to ensure good and honest governance besides enabling the judiciary and police to play their part in bringing to book drug barons, warlords and others who have a vested interest in perpetuating the narcotics business. The government can also influence tribal heads to exercise their sway over their people to shun poppy cultivation. Meanwhile, the international community can be of invaluable help by actively helping the Afghan government to encourage alternative livelihoods to make up for the loss of benefits acquired through the drug trade. Such suggestions have been made time and again and it is up to the Afghan government to demonstrate the political will to implement them in all sincerity. (Daily Times)
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PML(N) keen on protecting terrorists through a dubious stance on war on terror; The Pakistani Taliban are supported by the Afghan drug mafia

No consensus in sight on terror war policy: Joint session to resume on Monday

By Ahmed Hassan (Dawn Report)

ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: If the government aims at creating a national consensus on its strategy in the “war on terror” through the joint session of parliament, it seems to have failed in its objective as all opposition groups have been expressing dissatisfaction with the briefing and the quality of answers to their questions.

However, the onus of giving solid and unwavering suggestions for formulation of a new strategy on the war on terror rests with the opposition when they start speaking on Monday – the third day of the in-camera session.

The PML-N’s parliamentary leader, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, called upon the government to summon former president Pervez Musharraf to the session to tell the parliament about the “rules of engagement” agreed upon with Washington. [This shows that PML (N) is still pursuing a personal vendetta against Pervez Musharraf instead of supporting the Pakistan Government and the Pakistan Army in their war against terrorists.]

He said his party would not take part in the question-answer session as it was not satisfied with the format of the briefing so far. “We want the parliament to be briefed on an umbrella strategy to replace the existing policy.”

The parliamentary group leaders had agreed in a meeting with Speaker Fehmida Mirza that a general debate would follow the briefing and every lawmaker would be allowed a certain amount of time to speak and forward suggestions for the formulation of a new strategy.

A unanimous resolution containing recommendations on the basis of suggestions made by the lawmakers is likely to be adopted before prorogation, sources said.

On suggestions from legislators, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani promised to brief legislators after consulting his party.

President Asif Ali Zardari has in the meantime convened a meeting of the PPP’s central executive committee on Friday. It will also be attended by the prime minister, ostensibly to discuss deliberations of the joint sitting.

Those who spoke or put up questions during the proceedings included Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, PML-Q’s Faisal Saleh Hayat, Leader of Opposition in the Senate Kamil Ali Agha, Munir Orakzai (Fata), Senator Khurshid Ahmed (JI), Maulana Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F) Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao (PPP-S), Leader of House in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani and Asfandyar Wali Khan (ANP).

Khurram Dastagir Khan, of PML-N, told reporters that all questions about a new strategy remained unanswered in Thursday’s proceedings as Gen Ahmed Shuja, the director general of military operations, expressed inability to respond to them.

He said the whole nation and its representatives were united on the need for a national strategy to face the present imbroglio, but they also want to understand the gravity of the situation and the “terms of engagement” with the United States.

He said his party had suggested that the government should take the parliament into confidence about the US air strikes and intrusions by ground forces.

Insiders said that a major part of the four-hour session remained lacklustre as majority of the participants left the house after the first hour.

The chief of PML-N, Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, who had attended the first day’s meeting, was absent from the house. Only Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani remained seated till the end.

Ahsan Iqbal, of the PML-N, said lawmakers would not be satisfied unless they were informed about the utility of the military operation so far and its dividends to the nation.

New chapter

Meanwhile, Information Minister Sherry Rehman has described the session as a new chapter for democracy.

“The ongoing briefing session for the parliamentarians is a step towards strengthening the democratic system as it is aimed at taking public representatives on board on the most important challenge the country is currently facing,” said Ms Rehman while talking to the media on Thursday.

She said that “public ownership of the war” was critical to the nation’s success against terrorism. “The threat cannot be shrugged off through suggestions advocating pulling out of the global battle against these non-state actors.

“We cannot expect these terrorists to retire if we halt military operation against them. The government will also be giving a national security briefing in the larger strategic context.”

A PPP lawmaker, Tariq Mustafa Bajwa, made an interesting comment on the briefing: “We need to understand that the terrorists were fed by the drug money of Afghanistan.

“Even 10 per cent of the enormous drug money could be enough to destroy half the world, let alone producing suicide bombers.”
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