POLICE OFFICIAL GOES ON TRIAL IN KABUL FOR AIDING DRUG TRADE

KABUL-An Afghan police major-general overseeing the borders with Iran
and Turkmenistan went on trial Monday for allegedly facilitating the
drug trade, one of the most senior officials prosecuted in the
country's latest crackdown on corruption.

In a separate investigation, Afghanistan's major-crimes task force, a
recently created unit that's backed by U.S. and British
law-enforcement agencies, has asked for President Hamid Karzai's
agreement to pursue as many as three cabinet ministers and other
senior officials on corruption charges, Western diplomats said. An
official at Afghanistan's National Security Council has been arrested
as part of the inquiry, they said.

The diplomats said the request hasn't been approved so far, adding
that President Karzai expressed anger that the investigators are
targeting senior members of his inner circle. As part of his reaction,
a government commission has been created to look into the operations
of the major-crimes task force, they said.

Another major-general serving in the Afghan interior ministry,
meanwhile, has been arrested in recent days, also on corruption
charges, people familiar with the matter said.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has made a priority of
curbing rampant graft in Afghanistan's government and security forces.
Popular resentment against what many Afghans view as a predatory,
dysfunctional Afghan government has fueled the spreading insurgency,
making it increasingly difficult for U.S.-led coalition forces to
reverse Taliban gains across the country.

President Karzai has responded to Western pressure with a pledge to
clean up his government. But he has also repeatedly accused the
international community of using the issue of corruption as a
political tool against his administration, saying the biggest
perpetrators of corruption in Afghanistan are the foreigners themselves.

A spokesman for Mr. Karzai, Syamak Hirawi, said he isn't aware of a
request to indict or investigate cabinet ministers.

The official who went on trial Monday, Maj. Gen. Malham Khan, was the
Herat-based commander of the Afghan Border Police in western
Afghanistan from May 2008. Arrested some six weeks ago, he is accused
of helping drug traders export Afghanistan's heroin through the
borders with Iran and Turkmenistan, major smuggling routes toward
Europe, and of taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.
Afghanistan accounts for most of the world's heroin production, and
drug money is a key source of income for the Taliban. Gen. Khan denies
the charges against him.

At the hearing in a special court in Kabul, one of Gen. Khan's
battalion commanders, identified as Gulbuddin, testified that the
general provided a regional drug boss named Jalil Farahi with border
police uniforms and a police pickup truck so he could transfer
narcotics across the frontier unopposed. Mr. Gulbuddin said he
witnessed Mr. Farahi giving Gen. Khan $30,000 in cash.

Another subordinate, identified as company commander Aminullah,
testified that western Afghanistan's drug traffickers would regularly
meet in Gen. Khan's house to discuss shipments. The general allegedly
made little effort to hide his activities from the rest of the force.

"He would tell us that this government and system would not last long,
and that we should not antagonize people and make enemies here," Mr.
Aminullah told the court.

In a wiretapped conversation allegedly between Gen. Khan and Mr.
Farahi, played in the courtroom, the drug lord is heard asking the
general's help in releasing a shipment of drugs impounded by a
lower-ranking border-police commander at the Turkmenistan border.

In the tape, the person alleged to be Mr. Farahi, who remains at
large, is heard saying the commander is demanding 600 million Iranian
rial (about $60,000) to release the narcotics, and requesting Gen.
Khan to lower the bribe's amount to 450 million rial. The voice
alleged to be Gen. Khan's is heard asking about the details of the
shipment and promising to call back with a reply.

Gen. Khan told the court that he is "the victim of a conspiracy" and
rejected the wiretap tapes as doctored. A verdict is expected Tuesday.

Also Monday, militants struck at government officials in southern and
eastern Afghanistan. In the district of Dand south of Kandahar city,
the Karzai family's historic home, a suicide bomber attempted to
assassinate the district governor. He missed his target but killed
five children, coalition forces said.

In the eastern city of Jalalabad, an assassination attempt Monday
wounded eight people, including President Karzai's adviser on tribal
affairs, Wahidullah Sabawoon. -Maria Habib contributed to this article.