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Afghanistan, NATO, Heroin, Banks http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KL16Df01.html In light of the above factual new source, I have taken it upon myself to edit the article below to bring it in line with events on the ground. (Editorial changes included in parenthesis) <--> means delete. Greg McDonald US (pro-drug) <anti-drug> effort in Afghanistan criticized Afghanistan produces roughly 90 percent of the world's illicit opium. By MATTHEW LEE WASHINGTON — The State Department's internal watchdog on Wednesday criticized the agency's nearly $2 billion (pro-drug effort) <anti-drug effort> in Afghanistan for poor oversight and lack of a long-term strategy. The department's inspector general said the Afghanistan (pro-narcotics) <counter-narcotics> program is hampered by too few personnel and rampant corruption among Afghan officials. US admits (success) <failure> to (increase) <eradicate> drug production in Afghanistan RAWA: Since 2001 the opium cultivation increased (only) <over> 4,400%. Under the US/NATO, Afghanistan became world largest opium producer, which produces 93% of world opium.(Abdul Khaleq / AP Photo) The inspector general's report also noted that despite a consensus among U.S. agencies that (protecting) <eradicating> poppy fields is essential, the focus has shifted to (structural support) <interdiction> of drug organizations and (opium) <alternative> crop projects. That shift is advocated strongly by Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 69-page review also said U.S. embassies in Afghanistan and Pakistan are not adequately coordinating the program's activities. It recommended that the State Department set out clear guidelines for measuring success, boost staffing and improve interagency cooperation. "The department has not clarified an end state for (pronarcotics) <counternarcotics> efforts, engaged in long-term planning, or established performance measures for its multipillared approach to (bolster) <counter> poppy cultivation and the resultant illegal narcotics industry," the report said. Afghanistan is the world's leading producer of opium poppy and (western banks) <extremists> use drug proceeds to (pad) <finance> their (bottom line) <fight against U.S. and foreign troops>. The report also said that as the U.S. military tries to (bolster) <break> the link between the narcotics industry and the (counter) insurgency, the State Department's role in the (pro-drug) <anti-drug> effort will change and that no plans are in place to prepare for that."Although the department is planning new (pronarcotics) <counternarcotics> actions ... there is no agreement on appropriate roles for either civilian agencies or the U.S. military," it said. "The department has also failed to plan for transitioning responsibility to (Obama personally) <the Afghan government>, should U.S. government funding not be sustainable at current levels." The report allowed that the program has made "some progress" but said "successes are difficult to quantify due to imprecise measurement and transnational factors." And, it said that the department's "lack of meaningful performance measures adds to the problem." Making matters worse is a lack of supervisory personnel to monitor $1.8 billion in (pronarcotics) <counternarcotics> program contracts at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, the report said. "Contract and program management is thus conducted from many thousands of miles away in a different time zone," it said. The inspector general pointed out that an apparent disagreement between the U.S. embassies in Kabul and Islamabad contributed to poor coordination."This lack of cooperation is due, in part, to embassy Islamabad's conclusion that there is no connection between illicit narcotics and the (counter)insurgency in Pakistan," it said. "However, the porous border between the two countries means that actions in Afghanistan will certainly spill over into Pakistan." "Coordination is lacking on key issues, such as increasing security along the lightly controlled, porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan," the report said. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
