CRACKDOWN ON OPIUM TRADE WAS A CHARADE

Taliban Aim Was To Deceive World On 'The Source Of All Evil', Reports
Marcus Warren.

THE phoney nature of the Taliban's campaign against opium and heroin
production can be seen at the Kabul headquarters of the body which
supposedly co-ordinated the fight against drugs.

The Taliban's mullahs filled the tin trunks which served as their war
chests with profits from drugs. But they also worked hard to convince the
world that they strongly opposed the trafficking.

"It was all one great big game," said Mir Najibullah Shams, head of the
High Commission for Drug Control, pointing at photographs illustrating the
state's recent purported successes at curbing the trade.

The pictures show opium stocks being burnt and poppy fields ploughed up for
the cameras. Posters describe drug abuse as "the source of all evils" and
caution that it "leads to laziness and makes people ignore eternity".

Cannabis resin packed in tins of tomato puree for smuggling are locked in a
safe but are readily produced for visitors to inspect. Mysteriously, the
storeroom also boasts several boxes of ammunition and grenades.

The commission, however, was a front for a state funded by the drugs trade.
Its activities should also be a warning of the readiness of any Afghan
government to deceive the international community about its policy on drugs.

After tolerating the crop for years, the Taliban banned poppy cultivation
18 months ago, resulting in a tenfold hike in the price of opium.

It is estimated that some 80 per cent of the heroin on Britain's streets
originates from Afghanistan. In 1999, the opium harvest peaked at nearly
4,600 tons, which would yield nearly 460 tons of pure heroin after
refining. Last year the harvest dropped to some 185 tons.

Taking advantage of the chaos sweeping the country, farmers around
Jalalabad in the east have already planted poppies for harvest at the
beginning of next year.

Yet, when the Taliban were in control of Afghanistan, the trade was so
closely supervised by the state that receipts were issued for the payment
of customs duty on opium consignments passing from one province to another.

Taliban-controlled bodies raided and destroyed opium- and heroin-producing
refineries on the border with Pakistan in high-profile attempts to
publicise Kabul's campaign against the menace. The truth was less impressive.

"The villagers were warned in advance that they were coming," said Mohammed
Aref, a senior member of the commission throughout the Taliban period.
"They closed down the workshop but would only find the minimum of opium and
chemicals."

A sheet of paper records the number and the locations of refineries shut
down in the Jalalabad area last year. The misleading figures were then sent
off to the United Nations to argue the Taliban's case for more
international aid.

"We would have been hanged if we had said any of this when the Taliban were
in power," said Mr Aref.

The High Commission's activity was controlled by Mullah Abdul Hamid
Arkhonzade, a close associate of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader.
He would receive his instructions on regular trips to Kandahar.

Some of the smuggling trails lead through territory held for the last few
years by the Northern Alliance, now de facto rulers of Kabul, raising
awkward questions about the new regime's commitment to combating drugs.