Pubdate: Sun, 04 Feb 2007
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2007 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

AFGHANISTAN LOSING WAR ON DRUGS, GENERAL SAYS

LONDON --  A Pakistani sewed opium into the beads of a tapestry. An 
Afghan taped bags full of drugs to his body. A Chinese woman tucked 
narcotics into hollowed heels.

Afghan Gen. Aminullah Amarkhil says he arrested them all, and that 
has been the source of all his problems. The Afghan government, 
however, accuses Amarkhil of corruption and wants him returned to his 
homeland for questioning.

Until October, Amarkhil was a top customs official in the world's 
largest opium producing nation, responsible for halting the flow of 
drugs through Afghanistan's main airport. Now he is seeking asylum in 
London, saying that his life is in danger from drug lords who 
pressured the government to fire him amid corruption charges.

"If I was corrupt I wouldn't be here now," Amarkhil said as he sat 
huddled by a space heater in a cramped one-room apartment in a West 
London suburb. "If I accepted money the smugglers offered me, I would 
be a very rich man today. One thing is clear: I am here because I 
didn't deal with them."

Though Western backers of President Hamid Karzai's government have 
pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into anti-drug programs, 
corruption at every level of government has made it impossible to 
make significant inroads, experts say. U.S. officials have said the 
drug trade helps fund the Taliban-led insurgency.

Last year, Afghanistan had a record opium crop, producing enough to 
make 670 tons of heroin, more than the world's addicts consume annually.

Amarkhil spent 18 months as the customs chief at Kabul International 
Airport. Far from the modern world of X-ray machines and drug-trained 
dogs, officials at the Kabul airport often worked without basics such 
as electricity.

"I had no machines, no scanners, not even any dogs. All I had was my 
experience, my spies and Allah," he said, pointing his finger to the sky.

Amarkhil contends he was so successful that he upset druglords tied 
to corrupt government officials, who accused him of corruption.

Afghan Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Aloko says Amarkhil fled 
rather than face scrutiny; Amarkhil says he was questioned and 
released, but left amid fears for his life.

"He was scared because we had strong evidence of what he was 
accused," Aloko said. "We are trying to bring him back to the country 
with the help of Interpol."

Britain's Home Office and its Serious Organized Crime Agency would 
neither confirm nor deny receiving any extradition requests in the case.

Amarkhil disputes the allegations, saying that the charges were 
trumped up by officials in the pay of drug kingpins. The 44-year-old 
father of seven earned a salary of $500 a month - and said he was 
routinely offered bribes of $2,000 to $5,000 by traffickers to let 
their cargo through.

A senior Western official in Kabul, who spoke on condition of 
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, 
described Amarkhil as "fairly aggressive" in carrying out his duties. 
He said the alleged corruption was low-level, involving such things 
as visas and parking fees.

Amarkhil said he can prove that high-placed officials allow drug 
runners to operate brazenly. From a suitcase, the former customs 
officer brought out videotapes describing dates and times of some of 
his most successful arrests.

The videotapes show smugglers being taken into a room to be 
questioned, as their stash of drugs was laid before them. Dozens of 
nationalities were represented: Pakistani men with long beards, Thai 
women, Chinese girls and Nigerian businessmen.

One showed an Afghan allegedly caught trying to conceal 14 pounds of 
heroin. In another, a woman caught with 2 pounds of heroin threatened 
Amarkhil with retaliation from "friends in high places." She was 
freed in less than a month, Amarkhil said.

Corruption in Afghanistan's central institutions is hampering the 
fight against drugs ahead of this year's harvest and poses an 
increased risk to the 30,000-strong NATO force battling the 
Taliban-led insurgency, Amarkhil said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman