 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Al-Qaeda And Drugs Fuel Afghan Fighting Says NATO Commander
Vienna (AFP) Sep 14, 2006 The leader of NATO's fight against insurgents in Afghanistan warned on Thursday that tough resistance there was due not just to the ousted Taliban but also to the Al-Qaeda network and powerful drug barons funding the conflict. "There is a tendency to characterize all of the violence in Afghanistan as a resurgence of the Taliban. This is inaccurate," General James Jones, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, told an international security body here. As well as the Taliban, who have this year fiercely renewed an insurgency against foreign forces after being driven from power by a US-led coalition in 2001, Jones said "the remnants of Al-Qaeda" were also operating in Afghanistan. The Al-Qaeda network and its leader Osama bin Laden were blamed for the deadly attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. These provoked the United States to target the Taliban whom it accused of harbouring bin Laden. In addition, Jones said, today's insurgents are "certainly" boosted by "the strong presence of the drug cartels which have their own infrastructures, their own export system, their own security system, and are feeding the opposition". Jones was addressing the permanent council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, based in the Austrian capital. "We are seeing an increased connection between the Taliban and criminal elements that are drawing their economic nourishment from the narcotics cartels," he said. He claimed that 50 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product came from the narcotics trade. United Nations officials have previously warned that the trade generated by Afghanistan's opium poppy harvests was harming the country, which is marred by violence and corruption, particularly in the restive south. The head of the UN office on drugs and crime, Antonio Maria Costa, this week called for NATO forces to destroy the burgeoning opium industry in southern Afghanistan. The country accounts for 90 percent of the world's opium supply.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links News From Across The Stans News From Across The Stans
British Bodies Return From Afghanistan As Commander Defends War
London (AFP) Sep 12, 2006The bodies of 14 British airmen who died in a plane crash in Afghanistan were brought home Tuesday after a grim month of fighting there -- but a top commander insisted the war is being won. An emotional ceremony to pay respects to them was held at the RAF Kinloss air base in Scotland, where their Nimrod reconnaissance plane, which crashed earlier this month, was based. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
