U.S. military to battle Afghan narcotics traffic

WASHINGTON — U.S. combat troops will be thrown into the fight against narcotics traffickers in Afghanistan, where another record opium crop is expected this fall despite a $1 billion U.S. effort, U.S. anti-drug officials said Thursday.

Production of Afghan opium in the coming year will provide most of the world's supply of heroin, U.S. officials reported, surpassing last year's record-high production.

The illicit opium production and heroin trade accounts for at least one-third of Afghanistan's total economy, is directly linked to funding the Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents, and fosters corruption.

U.S. officials issued a new plan for the counter-narcotics fight in Afghanistan that directs $30 million in new aid for farming communities that agree to give up production of poppies, the source of raw opium.

"We know that opium, maybe second only to terror, is a huge threat to the future of Afghanistan," said John Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy.

The plan also directs forced eradication of poppy crops and the "take-down" of high-value drug kingpins with the help of the 26,000 U.S. troops currently based in Afghanistan.

Until now, there has been a strict firewall between the military's operations against the Taliban and other insurgents, and the drug war that heavily involves U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The international effort against drugs has been led by the British.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who replaced Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon in December, has made it a top priority to foster increased coordination with the State Department and other agencies, especially in the counter-insurgency battles in Iraq and Afghanistan where both security and local economic development is considered critical.

Karzai: Tribal leaders must end violence

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai told more than 600 Afghan and Pakistani tribal leaders Thursday that they must find a solution to the growing violence in the two countries.

Karzai was speaking at a U.S.-backed cross-border jirga, or tribal council. U.S. and Afghan officials say Taliban militants enjoy a safe haven in Pakistani border regions, particularly Waziristan, where the U.S. also fears al-Qaida is regrouping.

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pulled out at the last moment, citing domestic issues, and tribal elders from the most volatile region in Pakistan's tribal areas are boycotting the four-day event, calling into question how much effect the jirga will have.

Musharraf also is under political pressure, backing off Thursday from imposing a national state of emergency after televised news reports of such a plan triggered condemnation across Pakistan and expressions of concern from the Bush administration.

At the jirga, Pakistani Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz said the country would hold national elections by mid-October.

Karzai referred to Pakistanis as the "brothers" of Afghans and said that if the two countries would unite, "This disaster and cruelty in the two nations will be finished in one day."

The Associated Press