ASA LINKS BIN LADEN, AFGHAN DRUG TRADE

WASHINGTON - Drug Enforcement Administration head Asa Hutchinson told
Congress on Wednesday there's an indirect link between Osama bin Laden and
the illegal drug trade that props up his sponsors in Afghanistan.

Hutchinson said drug taxes collected by the country's Taliban rulers are
the dominant source of income for the regime that is shielding the accused
terrorist.

"Although the DEA has no direct evidence to confirm that bin Laden is
involved in the drug trade, the sanctuary enjoyed by bin Laden is based on
the Taliban's support for the drug trade, which is a primary source of
income in Afghanistan," said Hutchinson, an Arkansan who left Congress in
August to take over the anti-drug agency.

Hutchinson testified before a Government Reform subcommittee examining drug
trafficking and terrorism. Also testifying was William Bach, a State
Department director in charge of the region.

Bach said that Afghan revenue from illegal drugs totals more than $50
million a year, mostly from opium, an ingredient in heroin production.

"While we do not have clear evidence directly linking drug traffickers and
terrorists in Afghanistan, the Taliban responsibility is obvious,
particularly given its de facto control over 90 percent of the country,"
Bach said.

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., the subcommittee's chairman, said the drug trade
has given direct financial support to the Taliban and indirectly to bin
Laden and his al-Qaida network.

"The Sept. 11 attacks on our country immediately highlight the dark
synergies between narcotics trafficking and international terrorism,"
Souder said. "We now must confront the new reality that the Afghan drug
trade, largely without crossing our borders, has harmed our country just as
much as the drugs from half a world away that reached America streets."

Souder said the Taliban controls as much as 96 percent of the opium in the
country and collects a 10 percent "religious tax" on the drug's trade.

"Reports also suggest that the Taliban have actively participated in the
drug trade by controlling trafficking groups within Afghanistan," he said.

The DEA has discovered a significant drop in the production of opium in
Afghanistan, but Hutchinson said this must not be misinterpreted. He said
the Taliban have been known to exert control over production to manipulate
price.

"Despite this significant decrease in 2001 and the Taliban's claims of lab
destructions, DEA has seen no decrease in availability and no increase on
the price of Southwest Asian heroin in the United States and Europe," he said.

Bach said drug taxes help the Taliban buy arms and war materials and train
terrorists.

"Taliban taxes on opium harvests, heroin production and drug shipments have
helped finance its military operations against rival factions and these
taxes also bestow legitimacy on Afghan drug traffickers," Bach said.

Hutchinson said that United States should continue to build cases and
identify leaders of drug trafficking and terrorism wherever they may be found.

"Their assets and infrastructure must be seized and forfeited and in doing
so, we will limit the ability of drug traffickers to use their destructive
goods as a commodity to fund malicious assaults on humanity and the rule of
law," Hutchinson said.