'40 Tonnes Of Afghan Hashish Destroyed', The Hindu, 3 November 2008
EXCERPT: "Coalition and Afghan troops hunting for Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan discovered a drug lab and destroyed more than 40 tons of hashish on Monday, officials said. The joint force discovered the drug facility in Kandahar province's Spin Boldak district, which borders Pakistan, the U.S. military said in a statement. Gen. Abdul Raziq, the border police commander for southern Afghanistan, said the drugs were found in the basement of a compound in Nawa Kili village. He said American military helicopters were used during the raid. The area where the drugs were discovered is littered with small drug labs. Drug runners transporting Afghanistan's major cash crop - opium - over the border with Pakistan use the region as a staging ground. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, the main ingredient for the production of heroin. But the country also grows large quantities of cannabis, the plant used to produce hashish and marijuana. U.S., U.N. and other Western officials allege that some of the proceeds from the multibillion dollar drug trade - perhaps as much as $100 million a year - go to fund the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan. But some government officials are believed to be involved in the lucrative trade as well."
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See also:
'Troops destroy Afghan drug-making facility', UPI, 3 November 2008
'Iran forces kill nine drug smugglers in border clash', AlertNet, 3 November 2008
'Ills responsible for igniting extremism', Pakistan Observer, 3 November 2008
'The 2008 US government Afghanistan poppy cultivation and opium production estimates', Ministry of Foreign Affairs Afghanistan, 31 October 2008
Related posts:
'US, UN differ on Afghan opium ebb', 24 October 2008
'NATO ministers endorse greater anti-drug role in Afghanistan', 14 October 2008
'Some Afghan MPs back Taliban, drugs trade: Official', 6 August 2008
'The Taliban's opium war', 6 July 2007
