IRAN HELPING CUT HEROIN TRAFFIC FROM AFGHANISTAN

WASHINGTON -- The critical fight against the illicit drug trade in
Afghanistan is getting help from an unlikely source: Iran. Though
rarely discussed in this country, Iran's role in combating Afghan
trafficking has been by all accounts highly positive and has come at
great cost, reflected most dramatically in the deaths of thousands of
Iranian border police. Iran also has helped build security border
posts inside Afghanistan to catch or deter narcotics smugglers, a
program described to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by the former Afghan
interior minister who worked with Iranians to develop it. "Very
constructive role"

"Iran has played a very constructive role in combating the drug
trade, especially along the border it shares with Afghani-stan," said
Antonio Costa, executive director of the Vienna-based United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime. Iran's Afghan aid, he said, includes
"providing economic support to help opium farmers switch to
alternative crops." Iran's effort is occurring against a backdrop of
volatile developments: ● The mounting opium poppy cultivation
and heroin production in Afghanistan fuels a fierce insurgency that
aims to overthrow the Afghan government. U.S.-led forces are
conducting their largest offensive since 2001 against insurgents in
the drug-ridden provinces in the south. ● Three straight years
of bumper crops have flooded Iran and Western Europe with Afghan
heroin, a trail now leading to the United States as well, with
Chicago the chief distribution center. Missouri and Illinois
officials say the highly pure heroin is attracting younger, affluent
users and causing a spike in overdoses. ● U.S. talk about Iran
in recent months has been sharply negative amid concerns over the
Middle East nation's pursuit of a nuclear program. "You never hear about it"

As founder of the Afghani-stan-America Foundation, former Republican
Rep. Don Ritter of Pennsylvania has led efforts to build an Afghan
market economy. He returned Monday from his 16th trip to Afghanistan
since 2001. "In terms of collaboration between the Iranians and the
Afghanis on the drug problem," Ritter said, "you never hear anything
about it, you don't read about it."

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., chairman of a key House panel
dealing with Afghanistan, learned recently of Iran's activities. "The
fact that the Iranians are as anti-American as they are, and yet
they're playing a positive role in the opium trade, is somewhat
surprising," he said. Iran shares a 600-mile border with Afghanistan.
Officials at Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations in Vienna
say that in seizing tons of Afghan heroin, they've lost 3,500
security troops over the past decade. That is a reliable figure,
according to a variety of experts on the region. Indeed, Iran has
tackled the drug problem far more rigorously than Afghanistan's other
major neighbor, Pakistan, a top U.S. ally in the war on terror, said
Ashraf Haidari, first secretary for security and development at the
Afghan Embassy in Washington.