Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Seattle Times
June 26, 2008 By Sebastian Abbot and Nasser Karimi, Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's battle against drug traffickers in well-armed convoys crossing its border from Afghanistan could be threatened by the standoff over the country's nuclear policies.
Western nations have told Iran that they could cut off any new help to Iran's anti-drug units unless the Islamic regime halts uranium enrichment, which the U.S. and its allies worry could be used to develop nuclear arms.
The United States has applauded Iran's anti-drug campaign, and European nations help fund the fight.
The warning was a small but potentially significant item tucked amid an array of trade and economic incentives presented June 14 by the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany. But Iran has repeatedly said it will not back off uranium enrichment — pushing the European Union this week to freeze assets of Iran's largest bank and updating the blacklist of Iranian nuclear experts and companies.
The EU has not yet decided on whether to trim its aid to Iran's anti-drug fight, and tying the drug battle to the offer could be counterproductive, some U.N. officials say.
The arid badlands of eastern Iran have become one of the world's busiest pipelines for opium and heroin
A "heroin tsunami" could hit Europe if the drug interdiction by Iran is weakened, warned Antonio Maria Costa, the director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
"We should definitely assist Iran in this respect," he said.
Roberto Arbitrio, head of the U.N. drugs and crime office in Iran, said the war on drugs should be viewed as "a nonpolitical area of mutual interest."
The new stance is a sharp departure from the strong — but mostly behind-the-scenes — cooperation the United States and other Western countries forged with Iran on Afghanistan after the Taliban's fall in late 2001.
The West and Iran shared a common enemy in the Taliban, the Sunni extremist group that gave shelter to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and now continues to fight the U.S. military and NATO.
Taliban fighters help finance their battles by taxing Afghanistan's opium farmers, whose poppies provide the raw material for heroin. The West has had little success reducing the huge opium crop in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban are strongest.
The U.S. has recently accused Iran of providing support to the Taliban in order to bog down Western militaries in Afghanistan, although it has offered little public evidence. Iran denies the charge.
Overall opium production in Afghanistan has more than doubled in the last four years — and smuggling the drug into Iran is the first step toward reaching Western markets. Afghanistan produced 93 percent of the world's opium last year, and about 50 percent of the drugs leaving the country flowed through Iran, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says.
"Cooperating with Iran in Afghanistan on this and other issues is not a favor we do for Iran, but something we need to do in our own interest," said Barnett Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan at New York University.
The incentive package promised Iran "intensified cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking" from Afghanistan — but only if it suspends uranium enrichment first. Iran claims its nuclear program is only for energy-producing reactors and insists it has the right to have uranium-enrichment technology.
Iran has built a series of dikes and trenches along large portions of its roughly 560-mile border with Afghanistan to stop drug smugglers and has seized hundreds of tons of opium and heroin. Moghaddam said 900 tons of narcotics were seized last year, including what the U.N. estimated was 80 percent of total world opium seized.
The efforts have taken their toll: More than 3,500 Iranian law-enforcement officers have died in clashes with heavily armed drug traffickers over the last two decades, the Iranian government says.
"There is overwhelming evidence of Iran's strong commitment to keep drugs leaving Afghanistan from reaching its citizens," said the U.S. State Department in its 2007 narcotics report on Iran.
Despite that praise, the United States does not donate money to the U.N. to support Iran's anti-drug efforts because of unilateral sanctions. The United Nations, however, has received contributions from several European nations, including Britain, France and Italy, to aid Iran's drug-fighting efforts.
But political disputes have made fundraising to help Iran difficult, Arbitrio said. His office has raised only $8.5 million since 2005 for a three-year program originally budgeted at $20 million to help Iran intercept narcotics smuggled from Afghanistan and other measures.
The United States has spent $878 million since 2001 trying to wean Afghan farmers off growing opium — even as production has skyrocketed.
June 26, 2008 By Sebastian Abbot and Nasser Karimi, Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's battle against drug traffickers in well-armed convoys crossing its border from Afghanistan could be threatened by the standoff over the country's nuclear policies.
Western nations have told Iran that they could cut off any new help to Iran's anti-drug units unless the Islamic regime halts uranium enrichment, which the U.S. and its allies worry could be used to develop nuclear arms.
The United States has applauded Iran's anti-drug campaign, and European nations help fund the fight.
The warning was a small but potentially significant item tucked amid an array of trade and economic incentives presented June 14 by the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany. But Iran has repeatedly said it will not back off uranium enrichment — pushing the European Union this week to freeze assets of Iran's largest bank and updating the blacklist of Iranian nuclear experts and companies.
The EU has not yet decided on whether to trim its aid to Iran's anti-drug fight, and tying the drug battle to the offer could be counterproductive, some U.N. officials say.
The arid badlands of eastern Iran have become one of the world's busiest pipelines for opium and heroin
A "heroin tsunami" could hit Europe if the drug interdiction by Iran is weakened, warned Antonio Maria Costa, the director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
"We should definitely assist Iran in this respect," he said.
Roberto Arbitrio, head of the U.N. drugs and crime office in Iran, said the war on drugs should be viewed as "a nonpolitical area of mutual interest."
The new stance is a sharp departure from the strong — but mostly behind-the-scenes — cooperation the United States and other Western countries forged with Iran on Afghanistan after the Taliban's fall in late 2001.
The West and Iran shared a common enemy in the Taliban, the Sunni extremist group that gave shelter to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and now continues to fight the U.S. military and NATO.
Taliban fighters help finance their battles by taxing Afghanistan's opium farmers, whose poppies provide the raw material for heroin. The West has had little success reducing the huge opium crop in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban are strongest.
The U.S. has recently accused Iran of providing support to the Taliban in order to bog down Western militaries in Afghanistan, although it has offered little public evidence. Iran denies the charge.
Overall opium production in Afghanistan has more than doubled in the last four years — and smuggling the drug into Iran is the first step toward reaching Western markets. Afghanistan produced 93 percent of the world's opium last year, and about 50 percent of the drugs leaving the country flowed through Iran, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says.
"Cooperating with Iran in Afghanistan on this and other issues is not a favor we do for Iran, but something we need to do in our own interest," said Barnett Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan at New York University.
The incentive package promised Iran "intensified cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking" from Afghanistan — but only if it suspends uranium enrichment first. Iran claims its nuclear program is only for energy-producing reactors and insists it has the right to have uranium-enrichment technology.
Iran has built a series of dikes and trenches along large portions of its roughly 560-mile border with Afghanistan to stop drug smugglers and has seized hundreds of tons of opium and heroin. Moghaddam said 900 tons of narcotics were seized last year, including what the U.N. estimated was 80 percent of total world opium seized.
The efforts have taken their toll: More than 3,500 Iranian law-enforcement officers have died in clashes with heavily armed drug traffickers over the last two decades, the Iranian government says.
"There is overwhelming evidence of Iran's strong commitment to keep drugs leaving Afghanistan from reaching its citizens," said the U.S. State Department in its 2007 narcotics report on Iran.
Despite that praise, the United States does not donate money to the U.N. to support Iran's anti-drug efforts because of unilateral sanctions. The United Nations, however, has received contributions from several European nations, including Britain, France and Italy, to aid Iran's drug-fighting efforts.
But political disputes have made fundraising to help Iran difficult, Arbitrio said. His office has raised only $8.5 million since 2005 for a three-year program originally budgeted at $20 million to help Iran intercept narcotics smuggled from Afghanistan and other measures.
The United States has spent $878 million since 2001 trying to wean Afghan farmers off growing opium — even as production has skyrocketed.