GENERAL SAYS SHOOT DEALERS IN AFGHANISTAN

BERLIN -- NATO's senior military commander has proposed that the
alliance's soldiers in Afghanistan shoot drug traffickers without
waiting for proof of their involvement with the Taliban insurgency,
according to a report in the online edition of Der Spiegel magazine.

The commander, Gen. John Craddock of the United States, floated the
idea in a confidential letter on Jan. 5 to Gen. Egon Ramms, a German
officer who heads the NATO command center responsible for Afghanistan,
Spiegel Online reported Thursday.

General Craddock wrote that "it was no longer necessary to produce
intelligence or other evidence that each particular drug trafficker or
narcotics facility in Afghanistan meets the criteria of being a
military objective," the news magazine reported. A NATO official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the wording of the
letter, and several NATO officials said publicly on Friday that no
such orders had ever been given to NATO troops.

Still, the proposal was widely criticized, with politicians here
saying that it would flout international law and alter NATO's mission
in Afghanistan. Such an order, they said, would signal a major shift
in how the alliance intended to deal with the Afghan insurgency, along
with the opium trade that finances the Taliban and other militant groups.

Gen. David D. McKiernen, the American commander in charge of the NATO
forces in Afghanistan, also objected to the proposal, Spiegel Online
reported.

NATO officials declined to comment specifically on Friday about
General Craddock's proposal or General Ramms's response. "We will not
comment on the substance," said a NATO spokesman, James Appathurai.
"What I will say is that General Craddock never issued final orders,"
he added.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO's secretary general, has ordered an
investigation into how the general's letter was obtained by Spiegel
Online. He also said in a statement announcing the investigation that
"no illegal orders were given."