DRUG RUNNERS

Taliban, Bin Laden Eschew Their Faith

Osama bin Laden is not the only source of income for Afghanistan's Taliban
or for the terrorists hiding within the country. Poppies and the drug that
is produced from it bring in a sizable income.

The United Nations says that Afghanistan supplies almost 80 percent of the
world's opium used to make heroin. Last year, the Taliban -- which enforces
an extremely oppressive form of Islam -- promised to crack down on poppy
farmers in the country.

But, evidently, they weren't serious. "They warehoused enormous amounts of
opium and drove the prices up," said Asa Hutchinson, the chief of the Drug
Enforcement Administration. Now, since the Taliban needs money, the opium
is being sold and farmers have been given the OK to resume growing poppies.

Evidently, hypocrisy is a growing tenet of the Taliban. Maybe they could
justify their actions by claiming that they are only selling the drugs to
infidels, but that would not explain their sales in fellow Muslim countries
such as Pakistan and Iran. Devout Muslims abstain from drugs and alcohol.

But these self-proclaimed devout Muslims seem to have trouble with certain
rules of their religion. Some of the hijackers of the planes involved in
the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., had a wild night out on
the town before their attacks. They visited strip clubs where they received
lap dances and consumed alcoholic beverages. They also refused to pay their
tab.

The poppy fields of Afghanistan can produce as much as 4,000 tons of opium
a year. Any strike within Afghanistan must take into account the poppy
fields. Putting such farmers out of business has proven difficult. Like the
coca farmers of South America, growers can fairly easily begin a new crop
in a new location almost as soon as the old one is destroyed.

Closing the borders to drug-runners is just as important as cutting off
terrorists and financial transactions.

Drugs, guns and death are some of bin Laden's and the Taliban's biggest
enterprises. They sound more and more like a band of criminals and thugs
rather than holy warriors.