TALIBAN STEEPED IN HEROIN TRADE, EX-OFFICIAL SAYS

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A former top official in the Taliban's anti-drug
program acknowledged Thursday that the Taliban, while trying to create a
pure Islamic state, was deeply involved in the drug trade.

"I didn't have any financial or official authority, so I had to resign. I
was just a symbol," said Najibullah Shams, who once headed the Taliban's
anti-drug office in the capital.

The Taliban, which took control in 1996, allowed farmers to grow poppies,
the plant used in the production of heroin, and took a share of the
profits. It was not until 1999, facing stiff international pressure, that
the Taliban reversed itself and banned poppy production.

By contrast the opposition Northern Alliance, which now controls most of
Afghanistan, has never had an effective anti-drug program

Bernard Frahi, a U.N. drug control official based in Islamabad, Pakistan,
said he will meet here Sunday with former President Burhanuddin Rabbani,
who is now the de facto head of the country, to stress that the Northern
Alliance must fight drug production, as even the Taliban eventually did
before it lost power.

"We have to show that there will be no bargaining, no complacency," Frahi
said. "They have to demonstrate their goodwill."

The alliance took control of the capital and most of Afghanistan amid the
retreat of the Taliban last week.

The Taliban's anti-drug program was housed in a drab, low-tech office and
called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's High Commission for Drug Control.

A small tour of the building showed anti-drug murals that could not be used
in Taliban times because of a prohibition on depictions of humans. A
storeroom was littered with wood scraps and ammunition boxes containing
bullets and grenades.

The few remaining employees are waiting for a new director to be appointed.

They told two reporters who visited unannounced that they were anxious to
speak freely, but they might also be eager to ingratiate themselves with
the new regime.

They said the Taliban profited from the narcotics trade in two main ways.

The government took 10 percent of all poppy crops, as was the practice with
other crops. This is an extension of a Muslim tradition in which 10 percent
of crops are supposed to go for community interests.

Frahi said that Taliban officials had admitted the practice, though it was
unclear what was done with the 10 percent of the poppy crop. It might have
been divvied up among local commanders or sold off by the central
government. Frahi said that two years ago the share could be worth $18 million.

Staff at the Kabul drug center said the 10 percent share was supervised by
a central office that acted similarly to a taxation department.

The drug control staff also said the Taliban collected a per-kilo fee for
drugs smuggled out of the country, which could have been more lucrative.
Frahi said that U.N. and other law enforcement officials had evidence of
such a fee, but the Taliban did not acknowledge it.

After years of leniency, the Taliban changed course in 1999, when leader
Mullah Mohammed Omar issued a religious decree banning poppy cultivation.
Poppies are used to produce opium, which can be a narcotic itself or
refined to produce heroin.

The ban, and strict enforcement, resulted in a 94 percent drop in the
country's production, according to the United Nations.

In a recent setback, since the start of the U.S.-led attacks on the Taliban
Oct. 7 U.N. officials have indications that farmers are planting poppies in
areas around the country where the crop had been eradicated previously.

"They know there is a kind of legal vacuum today," Frahi said.

The United Nations, especially in light of the new focus on reconstructing
the country, can offer to help farmers find new sources of income.

While poppy production continues in Northern Alliance areas, it's not clear
that the alliance has profited from it as systematically as the Taliban did.

Frahi emphasized the ties between the black market of narcotics trafficking
and terrorism. He said drug money is a likely alternative for groups who
have had their foreign income frozen after the Sept. 11 attacks in the
United States.