The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Commentary
    • Columns
    • Water Cooler
    • Letters
    • Cartoons
    • Books
  • Sports
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Communities
  • Rebate Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Photos
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • Politics

    Pro-life Democrats support bill

  • National

    WILLIAMS: Genuine economic stimulus

  • Politics

    Voight, tea party groups plan last-minute protest

  • Politics

    CURL: Obama the Innocent stumps for health care

  • Politics

    Key Democrat Boccieri switches to 'yes' on health vote

  • Commentary

    TURNER: Our lawbreaking Congress

  • Energy

    Obama backs plan to legalize illegals

Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Narco-state conundrum

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen

More Stories

  • Thousands rally on anniversary of Iraq invasion
  • Iceland volcano erupts; hundreds evacuated
  • Ovechkin lights the lamp in return to play
  • Judge rejects settlement for 9/11 rescuers

By

Washington is not the only place were facts have fallen on hard times. It is now "quite impossible" for al Qaeda-linked terrorists to launch attacks across the 1,200 miles of mountains and valleys that separate Pakistan and Afghanistan. So said the commander of some 70,000 Pakistani troops deployed among 669 outposts.

From the highest eastern point at 21,000 feet in the Chitral area to the triborder region of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the average height is 12,000 feet. The foreign defense attaches who listened to Pakistani Gen. Safdar Hussain knew "quite possible" would have been a more accurate description for the movement of illicit goods and people across one of the world's most porous borders.

The Pakistani side concedes it has lost 250 soldiers killed and 550 seriously injured while killing 306 terrorists, including 150 foreigners, in 48 search and destroy operations.

Millions of Pashtun tribesmen live on either side of the Hindu Kush's baby mountain ranges. They don't recognize the unmarked border and move back and forth freely. Pakistani troops, peering through their binoculars, cannot tell which civilian, swaddled in blankets and loose-fitting garments, carries a weapon. Pashtuns are hostile to the Pakistani military forbidden by treaty to enter border areas until the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

Illusions persist on both sides of the border. In Afghanistan, a full-fledged narco-state, President Hamid Karzai has convinced himself opium poppy production is down 30 percent. That is presumably what some provincial governors have reported to Kabul. Mr. Karzai has no way of knowing drug smashers and drug smugglers often are one and the same.

Drug Enforcement Agency veterans, with worldwide experience, say the extent to which drugs have gnawed the country's still fragile institutions makes Colombia look clean.

Poppy cultivation keeps Afghanistan from joining the failed or failing states. It generates 12 times more income than wheat in the same acreage. Opium -- the raw material for heroin -- accounts for well more than half of Afghanistan's GDP.

Ministers or their deputies are on the take. Police cars carry opium through roadblocks. Karzai spokesman Jawed Ludin acknowledged criminals in national police ranks get cover from senior government officials. Gangsterism is on the rise too.

Last September, Mr. Karzai removed Ismail Khan from the governorship of Heart and gave him Cabinet rank in Kabul. But warlord Ismail Khan still controls his domain from the capital.

The eradication program is in British hands. They concede it is mission impossible without additional billions earmarked for crop substitution. The illicit traffic from Afghanistan to Europe moves via Iran, Iraq, Turkey and/or Jordan, and supplies 90 percent of Europe's heroin consumption.

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Top Stories

Most Shared

  1. KUHNER: Impeach the president?
  2. EDITORIAL: Hiding the true cost of Obamacare
  3. RUSE: The Girl Scout Sex Guide
  4. HANSON: Proud to help -- and to fly our flag
  5. EDITORIAL: Obama surrenders gulf oil to Moscow
More Top Stories »
  1. STEYN: 'Deemocracy' in action
  2. Lawmaker won't press charges in spitting incident
  3. WOLF: Obama family health care fracas
  4. TURNER: Our lawbreaking Congress
  5. PRUDEN: Into the twilight zone

Most Commented

  1. KUHNER: Impeach the president?
  2. Obama backs plan to legalize illegals
  3. Lawmaker won't press charges in spitting incident
  4. Voight, tea party groups plan last-minute protest
  5. Key Democrat Boccieri switches to 'yes' on health vote
More Top Stories »
  1. Obama urges Dems to come together for health care
  2. CURL: Obama the Innocent stumps for health care
  3. Raucous buildup precedes health care vote
  4. Obama holds final pep rally for health care
  5. TURNER: Our lawbreaking Congress

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin

Blogs & Columns

  • Water Cooler

    Health care bill opponents: Executive order on abortion doesn't cut it

  • Belief Blog

    Nancy Pelosi invokes the 'wrong' St. Joseph

  • Technology

    Ordering iPad is painless, except for the wallet hit

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.