Taliban's militia tithing may be rooted in opium

By KENNETH J. COOPER

WASHINGTON POST

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Ahmed Gul, a poppy grower in southern
Afghanistan, picked up a rusty mortar shell from a poppy field, walked
over to foreign journalists nearby and declared. "We are cultivating this
because the Russians used this weapon. Now, we are cultivating and
exporting this as an atom bomb."

Helmand Province, which produces about 60 percent of the poppy crop, was
the country's breadbasket until an extensive irrigation system built with
U.S. aid fell into disrepair like most of Afghanistan's infrastructure
during two decades of warfare.

"There was all this wheat and all this cotton, and now it's all this
poppy," said William Bergquist, a United Nations official based in
Randahar.

Geddes said the United Nations has tried to persuade poppy growers they
can make as much money from fruit orchards, onions and other vegetables.
Under another U.N. prograrn, local leaders will be asked to ban poppy
cultivation in their areas in exchange for a development project of their
choice.

Both the State Departrnent and the U.N. have reported that the Taliban
collects a 10 percent tax on opium poppy.

Abdul Rashid, drugcontrol director for Randahar Province, denied the
militia taxes poppy growers but said local Muslim clerics might receive
the tithe. One Afghanistan specialist doubted the poppy tax is a major
revenue source for the Taliban, which has received the bulk of its war
resources from other Islamic fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates and Bahrain.