XPost: aus.legal, misc.legal, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: uk.politics.drugs, us.military.army   
   From: reality@check.it   
      
   > Taliban suspected of stockpiling 'missing' Afghan opium   
   >   
   > Recent study revealed Afghan opium production has dropped dramatically   
   >   
   > U.N. says this should be treated with caution as country has been   
   > over-producing   
   >   
   > Taliban suspected of stockpiling large amounts of opium "as credit"   
   >   
   > U.S. has warned of growing link between Taliban and the drug trade   
   > By Paul Armstrong   
   >   
   > CNN   
   > (CNN) -- Enough Afghan opium to supply world demand for two years has   
   > effectively gone missing, with the Taliban suspected of stockpiling   
   > supplies in a bid to corner the market, the United Nations Office for   
   > Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has revealed.   
   >   
   > Afghanistan is the world's leading narcotics supplier. Earlier this month,   
   > a U.N. study revealed Afghanistan's opium production had dropped   
   > dramatically this year partly because of new aggressive drug-fighting   
   > tactics in the country.   
   > According to the UNODC report, production dipped by 10 percent this year   
   > while cultivation fell by 22 percent.   
   > However, a senior U.N. spokesman warned that this positive news should be   
   > treated with caution.   
   >   
   > "We figure the world needs around 4,000 tons of opium a year for licit and   
   > illicit purposes," Walter Kemp of the UNODC told CNN. Has enough empasis   
   > been placed on drug trafficking?   
   >   
   > "But this year around 6,900 tons was produced, with 7,700 tons delivered   
   > last year and more than 8,500 the year before that. Map showing where   
   > Afghan opium is going »   
   >   
   > "So if the world only needs around 4,000 tons of opium and a further 1,000   
   > is seized, where is the rest of it going?"   
   > According to Kemp, world demand for opium remains stable yet prices are   
   > not crashing, which suggests a large amount of opium is being withheld   
   > from the market.   
   >   
   > "Our guess is that around 12,000 tons of opium has been stockpiled   
   > somewhere -- not all in one place but in and around Afghanistan," he   
   > added. "So while production might be coming down -- mostly because of   
   > market reasons -- there's still a lot of product around to satisfy demand   
   > for about two years."   
   >   
   > It is unclear exactly who is responsible for this but there's growing   
   > evidence, according to the U.N., that the Taliban are becoming   
   > increasingly involved in the industry and could be sitting on huge   
   > stockpiles of opium to use as credit for financing their activities.   
   >   
   > "Farmers will be keeping small amounts back as credit for things such as a   
   > dowry or buying livestock," said Kemp. "But they won't have the means to   
   > store supplies in the kind of quantities we're talking about here.   
   >   
   > "It's probably in the hands of people with the ability to store it   
   > underground and to keep people away from it through corruption or force."   
   >   
   > Hakan Demirbuken, a research expert on the U.N.'s Afghan Opium Trade   
   > Program, said Taliban involvement in the drugs trade is not limited to   
   > taxing Afghan opium farmers and traders in return for their "protection."   
   > He told CNN: "Last year we estimated that Afghan poppy farmers earned   
   > around $730 million, while traders who take the product on to the border   
   > earned around $3.4 billion."   
   >   
   > "From this lucrative business the Taliban took around $125 million in tax.   
   >   
   > "But according to U.N. figures they need around $800 million per year for   
   > their operational needs."   
   > However, most of the trade is controlled by organized criminal groups from   
   > outside Afghanistan. Therefore Demirbuken believes groups such as the   
   > Taliban and al Qaeda will be forging links with criminal gangs in order to   
   > become more involved in the production and trafficking stages.   
   >   
   > In addition to the increased revenue greater involvement would provide, he   
   > said groups such as al Qaeda "will have noted the destabilizing effect   
   > this industry -- and the sums of money it generates -- can have on more   
   > vulnerable countries with weak governments."   
   >   
   > In October last year, the United States told NATO members that the drug   
   > trade was a threat to coalition troops because there was a direct   
   > connection between it and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.   
   >   
   > "There is what we call a nexus of insurgency. There's a very broad range   
   > of militant groups that are combined with the criminality, with the   
   > narco-trafficking system, with corruption, that form a threat and a   
   > challenge to the future of that great country," then-U.S. commander in   
   > Afghanistan Gen. David McKiernan told reporters.   
   >   
   > As a result NATO combat forces have now been actively attacking militants,   
   > drug laboratories and buildings connected to insurgents with ties to drug   
   > lords for the first time since the start of the Afghan conflict in 2001.   
   >   
   > Meanwhile, international law enforcement organization, Interpol, believes   
   > there has been a change of tactic involving Afghanistan's opium, with much   
   > more of it being turned into heroin within the country and stockpiled or   
   > couriered out, primarily through Iran.   
   >   
   > Historically Afghanistan has been responsible only for cultivating raw   
   > opium, with the conversion into a final product taking place across the   
   > border in Pakistan or in Iran and Turkey, according to the UNODC.   
   > Producing heroin in Afghanistan makes it easier to conceal and transport   
   > than the bulkier raw opium.   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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