Brits finally going after Afghan drug lords

Sunday Telegraph:

British Special Forces are conducting covert operations against drug smugglers in southern Afghanistan for the first time.

The operations represent a shift from the British military's long-held opposition to direct involvement in Afghanistan's drugs war. British Special Forces in Helmand province had previously been limited to targeting members of the Taliban leadership.

The operations are being conducted at night with members of Battalion 333, a secretive unit from the elite Afghan counter-narcotics police.

Nato commanders have long been resistant to taking a direct role in the drugs war, arguing that it would undermine the central plank of the alliance's counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan: the need to win the support of the Afghan populace.

However, this position has faced increasing pressure from Afghan and Western counter-narcotics officials as well as the United Nations, all of whom argue that the interests of the Taliban insurgency and narcotics criminals are inextricably entwined in Helmand.

The dangers in the new British strategy have already been highlighted by the killing of an alleged drug smuggler and his six-year-old son in Helmand last week in an operation believed to have been undertaken by the Special Boat Service.

...

Col Simon Millar, a spokesman for the British military in Helmand, said: "An operation took place involving UK forces against known narcotics individuals. The man was told to put his hands up in Dari, Pashto and English.

"He did not and made a movement for what was believed to be a gun. He was shot twice and one bullet went through his body and hit a child. We do not target innocent civilians, we regret taking any life and recompense has been paid."

The opium harvest this year is expected to be approximately the same as last year's record crop. Afghanistan produces more than 90 per cent of the heroin consumed on British streets. Western officials estimate that the Taliban were able to finance the insurgency by about £25 million last year through their activities connected with the illegal drugs trade.

...

That is what makes the opposition to getting rid of the drug trade so ridicules. European junkies are financing the Taliban's war against us. It is not clear why the Brits decided to announce their covert operations in the Sunday paper. While it is true that the dealers had to be aware of the raid on smuggler in Helmand, they did not know the extent of the operations and that they would be continuing.