NATO sets sights on Afghan drug barons

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 7/29/06 | Jeremy Laurence

[NormsRevenge]

KABUL (Reuters) - NATO's expansion into southern Afghanistan will target drug warlords who are the root cause of growing violence, the force's commander said on Saturday.

NATO will embark on the biggest mission in its history on Monday when it takes over security from the U.S.-led coalition in six southern provinces, extending its authority to almost all of the country.

British Lieutenant-General David Richards said he hoped to see improvements in the south within three to six months, which would allow the 26-nation alliance to proceed with the final phase of its deployment into the east by the end of the year.

Afghanistan is going through the bloodiest phase of violence since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, with most attacks occurring in the south.

Richards told a news conference in Kabul that the violence was inextricably linked to drugs.

"Essentially for the last four years some very brutal people have been developing their little fiefdoms down there and exporting a lot of opium to the rest of the world," he said.

"That very evil trade is being threatened by the NATO expansion in the south. This is a very noble cause we're engaged in and we have to liberate the people from that scourge of those warlords."

"ALTERNATIVE ECONOMY"

NATO's expansion signals the end of the coalition's big offensive in the south which started last month and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of militants, civilians, soldiers and government officials.

The Taliban and drug gangs have operated unmolested in the south for years and are putting up fierce resistance.

Afghanistan is the world's top producer of opium and its refined form, heroin. Poppy cultivation is back on the increase in the south, and money made from selling the flowers' opium has helped pay for the insurgency, according to security analysts.

"We do not want to target the farmers. Those people are in debt because of the drug barons," Richards said.

Richards said the key elements of NATO's new role in the south, with the backing of up to 9,000 troops from 37 countries, would be to provide security to foster development, reconstruction and good governance.

This will enable an "alternative economy" to that offered by the drug barons to develop, he said. "(But) they are going to fight very hard to keep what they've got," said Richards.

"I am not trying to achieve instant victory because I can't do that. Within three to six months I think we'll have a very clear idea (of how we are progressing)."

On Saturday, the U.S. coalition forces said they had arrested four suspected al Qaeda militants in eastern Khost province. The identities of the suspects were not given although a spokesman for the coalition forces said they were involved in attacks in country's east.

More than 1,700 people have been killed since the start of the year in attacks, mainly in the south, by Taliban guerrillas and U.S.-led coalition operations.