CANADIAN TROOPS TO TARGET DRUG LABS

Efforts To Cut Off Taliban Funding. Some NATO Countries Raise
Concerns About Counter-Narcotics Operations

Canadian troops in Afghanistan will soon target opium-processing
laboratories and high-level drug barons in an effort to cut off
funding for the Taliban, says Canada's top soldier.

But Canadian Forces personnel will not conduct operations to
eradicate poppy fields, says General Walter Natynczyk, chief of the
Defence staff.

This month, NATO defence ministers agreed to target Afghan drug
networks in an attempt to reduce the amount of money the Taliban has
to fund its insurgency.

NATO officials estimate the Taliban receive between $80 million and
$100 million a year from the drug trade, either by taxing the
production and transportation of opium, or from payments from drug
lords who want protection.

The United States had been pushing for NATO to become more involved
in targeting drug dealers, but it ran into opposition from nations
such as Germany and Spain.

Those countries have raised concerns that counter-narcotics
operations are outside NATO's mandate in Afghanistan and could prompt
a backlash from Afghan farmers who make their livings from growing poppies.

In the past, the destruction of poppy fields has prompted attacks by
Afghans on NATO troops and private security contractors.

As part of a compromise, NATO troops will be able to target drug
networks only if they receive authorization from their own
governments. In addition, only drug dealers who are providing money
to insurgents will be targeted.

"NATO is asking us to play a role in that, so we're going to move
down that road," Natynczyk said.

The operations will be aimed at the drug-processing laboratories, or
"interdicting" the drug network power brokers, he added.

Afghanistan is now the world's largest opium producer. Ninety per
cent of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan's opium production.

NATO defence ministers are expected to meet early next year in Poland
to review the progress of the counter-narcotics campaign.

Natynczyk was at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt to greet crews from
HMCS Protecteur and HMCS Calgary, returning from a six-month mission
in the Middle East.

The two ships had joined with HMCS Iroquois to form a Canadian task
group involved initially in counter-narcotics missions in the Caribbean.

Later in the Middle East, where the ships led the multinational
Combined Task Force 150, they were involved in patrolling the Gulf of
Aden, Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The task force included warships from France, Germany, Pakistan, the
Netherlands, the Britain and the U.S.

The task force conducted anti-piracy missions and worked to track
extremists in the region.

Vice-Admiral Drew Robertson, who is chief of the navy, said the area
patrolled by the ships was the global crossroads of terrorism,
smuggling and piracy.

"We were right in the middle of that hot spot," Robertson added.