RUMSFELD, IN TAJIKISTAN, URGES TOUGH STAND AGAINST TALIBAN

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said
while traveling here for talks on Monday that proceeds from the
rampant narcotics trade in Central Asia were fueling the insurgency
in Afghanistan, with the Taliban insurgents making common cause with
heroin traffickers.

Intelligence reports indicate that Taliban militants are offering
protection to Afghan drug traffickers in return for money to finance
the insurgency, Mr. Rumsfeld said. "Any time there's that much money
floating around and you have people like the Taliban, it gives them
an opportunity to fund their efforts," he said.

He made the remarks while traveling to Tajikistan, an impoverished
former Soviet republic and one of the main smuggling routes for
heroin coming from Afghanistan. He met Monday evening with President
Emomali Rahmonov and other top officials about how to strengthen
security along the Afghan-Tajik border and other issues, officials said.

Mr. Rumsfeld arrived in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Tuesday for
talks with President Hamid Karzai.

Though American officials have warned for several years that the
heroin trade is fueling corruption in the Afghan government, Mr.
Rumsfeld's comments indicated growing concern that the problem could
be contributing to violence, particularly in the south, where the
Taliban are strongest and much of the heroin is grown.

He called on governments in Russia and Europe, the destination for
much of the smuggled heroin, to do more to reduce demand for drugs
and to aid Mr. Karzai's government.

"Western Europe ought to have an enormous interest in the success of
Afghanistan, and it's going to take a lot more interest on their part
for the Karzai government to be successful," he said, adding that he
was worried that the drug trade "could conceivably end up adversely
affecting the democratic process in the country."

At a news conference with Mr. Rumsfeld, Tajikistan's foreign
minister, Talbak Nazarov, complained that Tajikistan "is always
blamed as the country that serves as the transit point for Afghan
drugs." But seizures of drugs by the border police were up
substantially this year, he said.

Britain has the main responsibility within the American-led coalition
for assisting the Afghan government with counternarcotics activities.
Some American officials have privately been critical of its efforts,
saying it has not done enough to reduce this year's opium poppy crop,
forecast to be one of the largest ever.

[On Monday, Britain said it was sending 900 more soldiers to Helmand,
the hub of the opium trade, to combat resistance from the Taliban,
The Associated Press reported.]

The State Department financed a $700 million eradication effort last
year, but it was plagued by delays and eliminated only a small amount
of poppy acreage.

Mr. Rumsfeld acknowledged that the number of Taliban attacks may be
up this year. But he said the increasingly brazen tactics had made it
easier for American, Afghan and NATO forces to find them.

"Every time they come together," he said, "they get hit and they get
hurt. So the fact that we see a somewhat different method of
operation during this period is correct, but it has not necessarily
been disadvantageous because the more that are in one place, the
easier they are to attack."