"The soldiers go out on patrol, of course, checking to see if the new schools are working well. And their presence is surely a significant factor in maintaining peace in the Kunduz region. But to the observer, it seems that their main concern is their own safety and comfort."
SPIEGEL ONLINE - August 19, 2005, 04:08 PM URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,370355,00.html A Schizophrenic War Germany Turns a Blind Eye to Afghanistan's Growing Opium Trade By Dirk Kurbjuweit In the international community's plan for Afghanistan everyone has a role to play. The British advise the government on how to combat drugs, the Germans assist in training the police force, and the Italians work on setting up a fair justice system -- all the institutions the Afghanis need to combat the opium trade. But so far, those institutions is failing at the task. Editor's Note: This is the second in a three-part special. You can read the first part here. (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,370130,00.html) North of Kunduz, Afghanistan Afghan police standing guard as a poppy field is destroyed AP (http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,443181,00.jpg) Police traveling through the verdant hills in this region of Afghanistan, the German troops pass several villages built from clay. The road rises and falls, winding its way through minefields marked by red-topped white stones. They pass a boy teaching his donkey sharp turns. Soviet tank wreckage pokes out of the fields like bones, a reminder of the decades of combat this country has seen. The soldiers wave. Again and again. Afghans show up at the roadside - a peasant with his plough, girls behind dusty school windows, 20 men in a 10-seater minibus, men scouring for landmines, crouching in the fields and staring through protective glass. Whenever Afghan characters appear, the German troops raise their hands and give a friendly wave. Not only are they the world's "best equipped" army, they are also the friendliest. "Waving is protection," explained Commander Vogler-Wandler. Wherever the soldiers go, they pass the message that they do not want to harm anybody. We leave you alone, you leave us alone is the silent pact they seem to make. The day before, on a reconnaissance mission close to Kunduz, the soldiers came across a group of workers. They stopped to ask them what they were building. The German squad leader, a first lieutenant, went up to the men, who were dozing under a tent roof, and exchanged a few words, asking them if they needed anything. He made it clear that the troops, of course, had not come to search them. There was no reason to be afraid, he said. This last sentence caused a bit of commotion. The builders laughed and started talking all at once. "We're not afraid," their leader cried. "We are brothers," shouted another. "You are my cousin," joked a third. The lieutenant looked a little perplexed, unsure whether to take the remarks as genuine friendship or mockery. Before driving back to their camp in Kunduz, the soldiers handed out schoolbooks to children along with light blue caps with the Airbus A340 logo on them. The camp has all the troops could ask for -- everything from a sauna, soon to be joined by a swimming pool, a toilet and shower up to German hospital standards, and a bar where they are allowed two bottles of beer each night. The women's tent is surrounded by roses, and come Mother's Day, they can send packages home at a discount. They have built a small, pretty Germany, a Germany from a bygone era. A peaceful, tidy, well-ordered, tight ship, so to speak. The soldiers go out on patrol, of course, checking to see if the new schools are working well. And their presence is surely a significant factor in maintaining peace in the Kunduz region. But to the observer, it seems that their main concern is their own safety and comfort. In Kunduz, as in military bases back home, boredom brings on fatigue. To fight this, the soldiers carry out their tasks with great care; to make time pass by more quickly, they constantly discuss what is to be done next. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are major events that break up the monotony of the day. On the journey to Faizabad, the midday sun beats down through the dust kicked up by the vehicles. The convoy crosses a ford, then passes an outcrop of rock that resembles a monkey's skull. On the green hills, red corn poppies sprout out of the short grass, a preview of the vast red poppy fields that fill up the meadows beyond. Berlin, Criminal Justice Court, Moabit Heroin makes its way from Afghanistan to Germany along several routes DER SPIEGEL (http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,506937,00.jpg) Nobody in Germany is winning the war on drugs right now, and for proof, all one need do is visit ground zero: the office of Public Prosecutor Karin Engert. The office is shabby, with stained walls and old, decrepit furniture. Here, as is so often the case in police and judicial circles, the state appears as a starving wretch. A clerk enters, stacking a pile of files on a shelf. In them are today's new cases -- around 40 -- all of which are related to narcotics. Engert's department deals with 1,300 such cases per month -- more than any other department. "Working through these files is our daily reality," she says. Engert is wearing a black suit and large pearl earrings. Studying the documents, she marks them in red ink and forwards them to the administrative office, where they're placed in red folders and forwarded to prosecutors. They then decide to whether to bring charges or if they should order police to continue investigations before the dossiers are brought before a court. Meanwhile, in courtroom 138 in Berlin's Moabit district, lawyers are presenting cases for prosecution. Eight are on today's docket. After their journey through the bureaucracy, the dossiers become human. In the eighth hearing, the prosecution tells a judge that the Palestinian defendant apprehended in one of the city's train stations was carrying 4.7 grams of cocaine and 114 "pellets" on him. The "pellets" amount to 27.7 grams of impure heroin. The rest is routine. The cast is familiar, the drama the same. The atmosphere is flat, and the arguments rattle off mechanically all morning, the droning murmur making it sound like the separate hearings have merged into one long story. The cases themselves seem far from scandalous, as do the defendants, regardless of excuses or confessions. The scandal is drug-dealing in its entirety. There's little room for clemency in this courtroom. In their testimonies, both prosecutors and judges make it quite clear that the cases are far from trivial. The prosecution calls for a suspended sentence of 20 months for the Palestinian, while the defense says 15 months would suffice. In the end, the court decides in favor of the prosecution. Heroin is "the most dangerous of drugs," the judge says. Hence the punishment must be a strong one. Engert joined the department in 1993. Addicts and dealers from those early days keep reappearing, in files, interrogations and trials. One has to wonder if she asks herself whether her work really makes sense. During an interview, she takes off her glasses and leans forward. "I don't like passing by six groups of dealers in broad daylight on the way here from Wedding," she says. "The general public has a right to expect playgrounds to be free of syringes, and that their children can go to school without being pressured by drug dealers. We can't rid Berlin of all the dealers, we can only try to throw as many wrenches into their plans as we can. That's what we fight for everyday." Spending time in Engert's office makes it clear that that the war on drugs is not being fought with winning in mind. Nobody, be it Engert, the customs officers, social workers or repentant addicts, can defeat drugs. But the war goes on, apparently unafraid to be fought without a chance of victory -- for there will be no big one. Instead, success comes in many minor victories. The justice system is designed to exercise constant pressure on addicts and dealers. It could function more effectively if similar pressure were also exerted in Afghanistan. Outside Keshem, Afghanistan As the town of Keshem draws near, Vogler-Wander, the unit commander, advises journalists traveling with the German troops to put on their bulletproof vests. The town is not known for its friendly welcome, as it survives, for the most part, off of drug trafficking. Soldiers' waves are not so readily returned as in Kunduz. Wooden sheds line the main street, where artisans are busy sawing and filing, sharpening their tools. Youths bring their customers hot bread, and spice traders proffer their sacks of red and yellow powder. The Bundeswehr troops are well aware that opium is being traded in large quantities at the end of the bazaar. The convoy stops -- not to interfere with the dealers, but for a journalist to take photographs. Vogler-Wander had outlined the military strategy before the mission started out: "Don't look away, look closely and report anything suspicious to the local authorities." But nobody on the trip has reported anything resembling drug-related activity. The farmers no longer sow poppy seeds along the main roads. And first lieutenant's earlier conversation with the workers still rings true: "we are not looking for anything." The German commander in Kunduz has said that in the past two months, just a single poppy meadow had been reported to the Afghan authorities. German participation in drug interdiction here has been virtually non-existent. Back in Keshem, a female petty officer has climbed onto the roof of a "Wolf" vehicle to sunbathe. She's blonde, and has been refreshing her lipstick at regular intervals. Around 50 Afghans have gathered around the vehicle to stare at this puzzling image. Berlin / Kunduz Struck debarking in Faizabad DPA (http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,398435,00.jpg) Speaking with Defense Minister Peter Struck about his troops and drug cultivation in Afghanistan is not unlike talking to a father about his sons -- while he's concerned for their welfare, he's also wary of them having too easy a time of it. He's said, for example, that he thinks the soldiers should be less preoccupied with themselves. This doesn't mean they should go looking for fights with poppy growers or traffickers. For the new mandate, Struck is pressing for 3,000 rather than 2,000 troops, as well as the green light to send specialists into regions not currently protected by the Bundeswehr. But he opposes altering the general political stance on drugs. He stresses this in an interview in his office, saying, "We do not want to destroy laboratories or burn fields." But he supports the idea that something must be done to combat opium. In Kunduz, the Bundeswehr is issuing a newspaper carrying the message that drugs are incompatible with the teachings of the Koran. Struck flies regularly to Faizabad and Kunduz, and did so again in September 2004. Faizabad is a town that blends in easily with its clay-brown landscape, but once there an observer cannot fail to be impressed with its air of impenetrability. Houses are hidden behind high walls, and the men wear stone-like expressions when German delegations drive up the main street. Women here wear the burka. Faizabad is also home to the Rabbani family. According to Bundeswehr intelligence, the Rabbanis command a force of 1,500 armed men. The bulk of the family's wealth is generated by opium. Large quantities of poppies are grown in the mountains around Faizabad. Security here is a constant concern for the Germans. During his last visit, Struck skipped a scheduled visit to a hospital on the advice of his soldiers. In Kunduz itself, he met with General Mohammed Daud at the German camp. They sat on the terrace, their delegations opposite each other, and exchanged pleasantries while Daud asserted that he considered drug cultivation a great evil that he intended to fight. As the regional ruler and deputy minister of the interior, he's charged with taking the fight to the opium industry. Struck was well aware of the fact that Daud might be involved in the opium business himself. At the meeting, he knew for a fact that the police officer sitting next to Daud was involved in the opium trade. Income from poppy sales in Afghanistan amount to $2.8 billion, around 60 percent of the country's total economic turnover. Struck remained friendly, acting as if he really believed both men were committed to fighting the opium economy. Honesty is not the most essential attribute in diplomacy, but nevertheless, watching a German defense minister give two probable gangsters the impression that they were real partners of Germany is downright farcical. The international community's plan for Afghanistan is dependant on having reliable partners. The British advise the government in combating drugs, the Germans assist in training the police force, and the Italians work on setting up a fair justice system. These are the key institutions designed to help the Afghans challenge drug cultivation and trafficking. An Afghan drug detection squad was created in January 2004. Last year they destroyed 70 laboratories and confiscated 80 tons of opiates. Annual export figures of the drugs are estimated at 4,200 tons. In May, the Americans again complained that Karzai's government was not doing enough to fight opium. A major dispute broke out, then fizzled. The Afghans, it was said, are perfectly able to fight the drug problem by themselves. But clearly they are not, and they won't be anytime soon. Would German troops be more capable? During a flight to Afghanistan, Struck invited journalists on board to join him in his cabin. After a few harmless questions, a female journalist spoke up. "The Bundeswehr has been active overseas for a good ten years," she said. "In this time, only two people have been shot by German soldiers. Does that not suggest that they are lacking the fighting spirit?" The question was followed by gaping silence, and red-faced embarrassment as the crowd looked down at the floor. With eyes lowered, one could notice that the journalist who had posed the question was wearing slippers with an angel embroidered on them. The angel was leaning on a cloud and smiling pleasantly. Struck was also wearing slippers for the long flight. The German Defense minister twice began to speak, before stopping himself. The he managed to form a sentence. "No, I don't think that German soldiers are softies." Struck's press spokesman was quick to end the conversation. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12hokpnib/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705323667:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1124470279/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back!</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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