Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Profile: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7846654.stmBRUSSELS: Taliban militants are receiving more funding from their sympathisers abroad than from Afghanistan’s illegal drug trade, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Tuesday. “What I believe happens is that the Taliban funds local operations in the Pashtun belt out of drug money, but the overall effort gets massive amounts of money from outside Afghanistan,” Holbrooke said. A Nato official said it was a well-established fact that the militants continue to receive substantial amounts of cash from overseas. Drug money represents only a portion of their operational funding, but it is not known how large that sum is compared with overseas donations, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Gulf, Europe funding Taliban: Holbrooke, Dated Wednesday, July 29, 2009 Task force to probe flow of money to insurgents; calls for more EU aid for Swat IDPs http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=23543
Before 911
U.S. officials announced that Washington was giving $43 million to the Taliban for its role in reducing the cultivation of opium poppies, despite the Taliban’s heinous human rights record and its sheltering of Islamic terrorists of many nationalities. Doesn’t this make the U.S. government guilty of supporting a country that harbors terrorists? Do you think your obsession with the “war on drugs” has distorted U.S. foreign policy in Southwest Asia and other regions?
Mullah Omar [Courtesy: US National Security Archive]
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB134/MullahOmar.jpg
Even the U.S. State Department acknowledges that in July 2000, Mullah Omar of the Taliban ordered a ban on poppy cultivation in all Taliban controlled regions of Afghanistan. That State Department Fact Sheet, published after Jan 1, 2000, however, expresses U.S. disbelief in the ban's effectiveness. This position is, however, flatly contradicted by some very credible sources, including Secretary of State Colin Powell. He gave the Taliban $43 million this May to replace the income lost to Afghani farmers as a result of the ban. Their wheat crops had failed due to the drought and they had no money from opium harvests to buy food. The middlemen who had stockpiled the opium had income. But the farmers, who had harvested in the summer of 2000, had already been paid. Reference: The Lies About Taliban Heroin - Russia and Oil the Real Objectives With Heroin As A Weapon of War - A Replay of CIA's Vietnam-era Drug Dealing - FTW Revises Its Map On Economic Impacts - by Michael C. Ruppert http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/10_10_01_heroin.html
For further reading: The Taliban And The Afghan Drug Trade Released by the Bureau of South Asian Affairs U.S. Department of State Washington, DC January 20, 2001. http://www.state.gov/www/regions/sa/facts_taliban_drugs.
"QUOTE"The United Nations Security Council Resolution introduced on December 7, 2000, calls on all parties in Afghanistan to observe the existing international conventions to work for the elimination of illicit cultivation of opium poppy. Further, the resolution includes a measure to ban the export to Afghanistan of a precursor chemical, acetic anhydride, which is used to manufacture heroin.
The international community agrees that these further measures are necessary because Afghan territory under Taliban control is now the largest producer in the world of illicit opium, which is refined into heroin. Narcotics-related income strengthens the Taliban's capacity to provide support for international terrorism.
The Taliban benefit directly from poppy cultivation by imposing a tax on the opium crop, and they also profit indirectly from its processing and trafficking.
The Taliban's support for, or acquiescence to, poppy cultivation and narcotics manufacture and trade has further exacerbated the humanitarian crisis of the Afghan people. The explosion of poppy cultivation under the Taliban has reduced agricultural land available for food crops at the very time that Afghanistan is suffering the worst drought in a generation.
In recent years, the Taliban have announced several bans on poppy cultivation, but there has been little evidence that these bans are credible.
Massive Poppy Cultivation Harms The Afghan People
Afghanistan's opium crop of 3,656 metric tons accounted for 72 percent of the world's illicit opium in 2000.
Since 1997 over 96 percent of the opium-poppy crop has been cultivated in Taliban-controlled areas.
Opium-poppy cultivation in Afghanistan continues to increase, in spite of a devastating drought and decrees from the Taliban leadership banning poppy cultivation.
Poppy is cultivated at the expense of wheat and other food crops, desperately needed by the people of Afghanistan, and is planted on the best available land with productive soils, irrigation, and fertilizer, not on previously uncultivated or marginal lands.
The Explosion Of Poppy Cultivation Under The Taliban
In 1992-93, Afghanistan's poppy cultivation stood at about 20,000 hectares, mostly in Nangarhar province, which is located between Pakistan's North West Frontier province and Kabul in Afghanistan.
Poppy then began to invade Helmand province where it has increased 800 percent since 1993.
Helmand borders on Qandahar province, the Taliban's power base, and harbors traditional smuggling routes to Pakistan and Iran.
Helmand also contains the HAVA irrigation system built by the United States Agency for International Development in the 1950's. This irrigated area has been modern Afghanistan's breadbasket.
Massive poppy cultivation in Helmand has developed since the Taliban took control of the area, and with the full knowledge of Taliban authorities.
The irrigation system minimizes the effects of drought and supports high-yielding opium poppy from year to year.
Poppy cultivation overall for Afghanistan has climbed from 41,720 hectares in 1998 to 64,510 hectares in 2000, mainly as a result of increases in Helmand. Taliban-controlled Helmand province alone now accounts for 39 percent of the world's illicit opium.
Taliban's Bans on Poppy Cultivation Lack Credibility
The United States funded a non-governmental organization to improve this irrigation system for alternative crops in 1998 and 1999 in a failed effort to test the Taliban leadership's sincerity on narcotics control.
The Taliban decreed a ban on opium in August 1997 and in 1999 ordered a one-third decrease in poppy cultivation. No positive results were reported from either action.
On July 28, 2000, Taliban leader Mullah Omar issued a ban on the cultivation and trafficking of opium and repeated this ban in October, ordering the Taliban to plow up fields planted to poppy. The international community will monitor these developments closely.
There have been media reports that the Taliban have arrested some farmers in Nangarhar province for sowing poppy (but not in Helmand). Even so, credible reports from counter-narcotics officials in neighboring states report that drugs from Afghanistan are "bursting" across their borders.
The Afghan drug trade is deeply entrenched globally. After two years of bumper crops, opium stocks are likely to be at record levels.
According to the UNDCP, farmgate prices for fresh opium declined from about $40/kg in 1999 to $30/kg in 2000, a significant drop in price, further indicating increasing cultivation of opium, despite UNDCP claims that production fell in 2000.
Under the Taliban, the international community has not been able to employ the appropriate monitoring means required to verify the Taliban's claims of enforcement action against drugs.
In one example in April 2000, the Taliban publicly plowed under some poppy crops in the presence of media observers. However, the size of the crop destroyed was greatly exaggerated and may have already been harvested. Independent experts have not verified the Taliban's claims.
The Taliban admit to imposing the same ushr, a 10 percent tax, on poppy as they impose on other agricultural crops. This tax can be paid in cash or kind. This is clear evidence that Taliban officials have to handle opium and, from the viewpoint of farmers, is a green light to cultivate an illicit crop.
The media have reported sizeable narcotics processing complexes in Helmand, and open opium markets in Nangarhar. Both exist in full view of Taliban authorities.
[end of document]
"UNQUOTE"
Hamid Karzai - Incumbent President of Afghanistan Assumed office 22 December 2001
Acting until 7 December 2004 - Profile: Hamid Karzai became the first popularly elected president of Aghanistan in 2004 - nearly three years after being appointed the country's interim leader. After taking up power in December 2001, he survived an early assassination attempt and infighting among ethnic groups to carve out a reputation as a shrewd statesman. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3135938.stm
He also served as deputy foreign minister [Pakistani Establishment Backed and concocted Afghan government] in the Afghan government from 1992 to 1994 after the mujahedeen defeated the Soviets. But he grew weary of the fierce infighting between rival Afghan factions and initially supported the Taliban, who tried to name him as their ambassador to the United Nations. Now please dont deny that Pakistani Establishment particularly Rogue General Zia and Bunch weren't go between Afghan Mujahideen and US Central Intelligence:
============
Karzai was a member of the Mujahideen and took active part in driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s. The Mujahideen were secretly supplied and funded by the United States, and Karzai was a top contact for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the time. He had close personal contact with CIA Director William Casey and George H. W. Bush, who was Vice President of the United States.
When the Taliban emerged in the 1990s, Karzai was at first one of their supporters but later he broke with them and refused to serve as their U.N. ambassador. However on August 20, 1998, after an attempt by the United States to kill Osama bin Laden with a cruise missile, Karzai praised the Taliban saying,
“ ...there were many wonderful people in the Taliban.
Reference:
a b Marlowe, Ann (February 11, 2008). "Two Myths About Afghanistan", The Washington Post, p. A13. Retrieved on 2008-02-11. "On Aug. 20, 1998, the day the United States sent cruise missiles to kill Osama bin Laden, Karzai told The Post that "there were many wonderful people in the Taliban. ...So he spent much of the fall offering to negotiate with Taliban chief Mohammad Omar and the vicious warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar."
The same Karzai and his mentor Zalmay Khalilzad were the ones who used to negotiate Oil Pipeline Deal on behalf of UNOCAL AND HALLIBURTON [M/S Dick Cheney and James Baker] with the Rampant Deobandi Mullahs of Talebans!
References
Ilene R. Prusher, Scott Baldauf, and Edward Girardet (June 10, 2002 edition). "Afghan power brokers" (HTML). pub. Retrieved on 2007-12-11. “Cool and worldly, Karzai is a former employee of US oil company Unocal – one of two main oil companies that was bidding for the lucrative contract to build an oil pipeline from Uzbekistan through Afghanistan to seaports in Pakistan – and the son of a former Afghan parliament speaker.”
Tom Turnipseed (January 10, 2002). "A Creeping Collapse in Credibility at the White House:" (HTML). counterpunch. Retrieved on 2007-12-11. “As reported in Le Monde, the new Afghan government's head, Hamid Karzai, formerly served as a UNOCAL consultant. Only nine days after Karzai's ascension, President Bush nominated another UNOCAL consultant and former Taliban defender, Zalmay Khalilzad, as his special envoy to Afghanistan.”
"Hamid Karzai" globalsecurity (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-11. “The claim appears to have originated in the December 9, 2001 issue of the French newspaper Le Monde. Some have suggested that Karzai was confused with U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.”
Zalmay Khalilzad - Ambassador to Iraq - Term of Appointment: 06/22/2005 to present
Profile: Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad was confirmed on June 16, 2005 and sworn in on June 22, 2005 as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. Dr. Khalilzad was U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005 and also served as Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan. Before becoming Ambassador to Afghanistan, he served at the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Islamic Outreach and Southwest Asia Initiatives, and prior to that as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Southwest Asia, Near East, and North African Affairs. He also has been a Special Presidential Envoy and Ambassador at Large for the Free Iraqis. Dr. Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney transition team for the Department of Defense and has been a Counselor to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/50305.htm
To assure that the pipeline project will proceed apace, the Afghani-American Zalmay Khalilzad, a previous member of the CentGas project, became President Bush's Special National Security Assistant. Khalilzad has recently been named presidential Special Envoy for Afghanistan. Khalilzad is a Pashtun and the son of a former government official under King Mohammed Zahir Shah. Along with being a consultant to the RAND Corporation, he was a special liaison between UNOCAL and the Taliban government. Khalilzad also worked on various risk analyses for the project under the direction of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, a former member of the board of Chevron.
How would one explain this Saudi-Karzai talks with the Talibans and Iran's Role in Funding A Ferocious Jamat-e-Islami [Read Butcher] Gulbadin Hikmatyar. We are back to square one when USSR had left Afghanistan and these Afghan Mullah Mafia were at each others Throat from 1989 till 2001 i.e. 9/11 despites of the Fact that these Warlords had taken oath in Makkah for restoring peace but they didn't fulfill that promise and killed more Afghans than the Soviet Russia. Same game is afoot again only the actors are changed earlier Saudi Government tried to make peace between those US/CIA/Pakistan Backed Afghan Warlords [Jamat-e-Islami/Muslim Brotherhood Gang] who fought USSR [1979-1989], then the very same Saudi Government supported and accepted the US CIA/Pakistani backed Deobandi Anarchy i.e. Taliban and the same Saudi Goverment helped the US to destroy the very same Taliban after 9/11 because as per a book [Steve Coll's Ghost Wars] Mullah Omar allegedly misbehaved with Prince Turki Al Faisal [Saudi Intelligence Chief] before US attack on Afghanistan in 2001 because Prince had ordered Mullah Omar to withdraw Taliban support from Laden and Arab Gangs. Even if that was not enough Irani Government was financing a JI/Muslim Brotherhood Butcher of Kabul i.e. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. I wonder if Taliban are to be restored to War than what was the need of so-much bloodshed in the name of War on Terror and that too when a Minister in Taliban government [1996-2001] as per BBC Report [mentioned below number 6, 7 and 8], had warned US [before 9/11] in advance that there was a threat of Terrorist Attack in USA. If the Peace Talk with the Taliban was to be held then what was the need to exploit the Cock and Bull Story that Mullah Omar used to have dreams having indications from Mohammad [PBUH] as to how to Impose Shariah, what was the need to exploit the alleged shirt of Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] which was allegedly shown [instead of Bread and Peace] to poor and innocent Afghans by Mullah Omar and this Deobandi Anarchy Taliban to get their sympathy vote above all why dont even take the Holy Name of Islami Shariah when one is indulged in every kind of unscrupulous acts. Read and lament
1 - Karzai’s brother confirms presence at Saudi talks http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/10/top8.htm
2 - Taliban and Afghan officials break bread http://news.theage.com.au/world/taliban-and-afghan-officials-break-bread-20081007-4v9j.html
3 - S. Arabia brokering Kabul-Taliban talks: ‘Militia severs ties with Al Qaeda’ http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/07/top2.htm
4 - US supports Taliban return to power By Anwar Iqbal http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/07/top5.htm
5 - Hekmatyar protected by Iran, says Spanish radio http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/07/top12.htm
6 - Taleban 'warned US of huge attack' by By Kate Clark - Former BBC correspondent in Kabul Saturday, 7 September, 2002, 09:48 GMT 10:48 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2242594.stm
7 - Taleban minister's 'peace role' mystery Wednesday, 17 October, 2001, 17:15 GMT 18:15 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1604691.stm
8 - Taleban 'turn on ex-minister' Last Updated: Tuesday, 21 October, 2003, 17:39 GMT 18:39 UK The hardline Islamic Taleban movement is reported to have disowned its former foreign minister in Afghanistan, Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3209584.stm
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