AFGHANISTAN DRUG THREAT CITED

Marine General Says Issue Is Bigger Risk Than Taliban, Al-Qaida

WASHINGTON - The top military commander of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization said Monday that the narcotics trade poses a greater
threat to Afghanistan than a rekindled insurgency by Taliban and al-
Qaida fighters.

Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, NATO's supreme commander, said he
doesn't think that Taliban and al-Qaida remnants can "restart an
insurgency of any size or major scope," but that they're part of a
"wider span of problems" that includes the opium trade and rampant criminality.

Last week, however, Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen.
Michael Maples said that attacks by Taliban and al-Qaida forces had
increased by 20 percent in the past year.

Jones said Monday that a 20 percent increase in attacks "is
statistically not very significant" because the average number of
daily attacks by Taliban and al-Qaida fighters had been "quite low."

"I don't think we're heading towards a revitalized insurgency," Jones
told reporters at the Pentagon. "And I think that the upticks in
violence are in part attributable to the fact that we're actually
going to more places and taking the engagement to the enemy."

About 21,000 NATO troops from 36 countries are preparing to take over
stability and security operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan
in coming months. NATO will very likely take over stability
operations throughout Afghanistan by the end of 2006, Jones said.

Some U.S. troops will be included in the NATO force, but that number
hasn't been determined. Most U.S. troops, however, will concentrate
on areas in eastern Afghanistan along the Pakistan border, where
Taliban, al-Qaida and other anti-government groups remain active and
where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.

Those soldiers will operate under a separate authority that reports
to U.S. Central Command. There are about 23,000 U.S. troops in the country.

Last year, Afghanistan produced an estimated 4,100 tons of opium,
about 87 percent of the world's supply, the U.N. says.

Pakistan Violence

Authorities on Monday imposed a curfew in Miran Shah, the main town
of Pakistan's Mir Ali tribal region, as thousands of people fled a
third day of clashes between Pakistani security forces and al-Qaida
and Taliban supporters.

As many as 100 militants may have been killed, officials said.
Clerics tried to mediate a cease-fire and security forces conducted a
mop-up after artillery and helicopters targeted militant strongholds.