HEROIN CULTIVATION A GROWING CONCERN IN TAJIKISTAN

LOST CAUSE: The US-led anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan caused a
brief lull in drug trafficking, but heroin production has recently
increased at an alarming rate

Warrant Officer Amirali Niyozov and his men trekked for five hours to reach
the isolated mountain spot near the Afghan border where they had been
tipped a drug drop was going down.

After four hours lying in wait, Niyozov heard footsteps: Afghans were
making their way across the barren slopes.

"Who's there?" he shouted, firing warning shots into the air before
training them on the suspected drug traffickers. They returned fire -- and
then melted away into the night, leaving behind 31kg of drugs.

It was another frustrating night for Niyozov. He has the unenviable job of
hunting down the smugglers who have turned the Tajik border into a favorite
transit point for drugs going to users in Russia and Europe.

Despite the mountainous terrain and dangers of minefields, traffickers
routinely sneak past Tajik and Russian border guards.

"There's no way to stop them," Niyozov, sporting a black cowboy hat with
matching black vest stuffed with ammunition clips. "They will always find a
way."

The US-led anti-terrorism campaign in neighboring Afghanistan after the
Sept. 11 terror attacks caused a brief lull in drug traffic through this
Central Asian nation.

But in the first six months of this year, law enforcement officers seized
nearly 5.2 tonnes of narcotics in Tajikistan -- double the amount for the
same period last year. Experts estimate seizures are only about 10 percent
of actual traffic.

Major General Rustam Nazarov, head of Tajikistan's UN-supported Drug
Control Agency, warned the US that it can't afford to ignore the drug issue
as it seeks to extinguish lingering threats from al-Qaeda and the Taliban
in Afghanistan.

"Drugs, terrorism and Islamic extremism are all linked. You can't fight
against terrorism and then say you will fight drugs later," he said in an
interview. "If we don't solve this problem, then you can worry about a
bigger problem than what happened in New York," Nazarov said, referring to
the Sept. 11 attacks.

The drugs aren't just passing harmlessly through Tajikistan either. The
number of addicts is on the rise -- officially about 9,000, according to
Nazarov, but the actual number is believed to be 55,000 or more.

Increased drug use is also causing a spike in HIV cases, though official
figures are still small. The number of registered AIDS cases is now 92, up
from four a few years ago, Nazarov said.

Faridun Sharopov, a patient at the main drug treatment clinic on the
outskirts of the capital Dushanbe, said he started smoking marijuana in
1992 as the country descended into civil war and injecting heroin seven
years later.

"When it first appeared, [heroin] was as cheap as a bottle of beer. People
even gave it away for free," he said in an unsteady voice at the clinic, a
collection of rundown concrete buildings on the edge of town. "We didn't
know such a strong thing existed."

UN drug officials say heroin production in Afghanistan is shifting to the
north to take advantage of trafficking routes through former Soviet Central
Asia and because of increased enforcement in traditional opium-growing
areas in southern Afghanistan, where most US anti-terror operations are
being conducted.

Northern Afghanistan is largely left to the control of regional warlords,
who Nazarov alleged are still involved in drug trafficking to help fund
their private armies -- just as they were before international troops arrived.

Tajikistan gets help policing its 1,200km border with Afghanistan from more
than 10,000 Russian border guards, mostly Tajiks working on contract under
Russian supervision. A second line of defense is formed by Tajik border guards.

Colonel Saidato Merzoev, commander of the more than 700 Tajik border guards
in Shurobod region, said traffickers use satellite phones to coordinate
drops, and often have night-vision equipment and wear Russian uniforms to
fool guards. Informants advise them when troops are eating so they can time
their illegal forays across the border.

In contrast, the ill-equipped Tajik border guards don't even have
walkie-talkies to call their base for help while on patrol. At one border
post, guards were seen using an old gun sight to peer across the Pyandzh
River to Afghanistan because they have no binoculars.

Merzoev also faces challenges from the local population, many of whom see
the drug trade as one of the few ways to make money in this impoverished
country, one of the poorest in the world.

"Even if the Americans, French, Russians or whoever send troops here, the
traffic would still happen," he said.