Afghan, Coalition Forces Destroy Taliban Heroin Lab

American Forces Press Service

Aug. 27, 2007 - Afghan and coalition forces teamed up to defeat a group of Taliban insurgents protecting a heroin laboratory in Helmand province yesterday, officials reported. Afterward, the Taliban launched a mortar attack against innocent civilians living almost a dozen kilometers north of the destroyed lab. The attack on the civilians came about an hour after Afghan and coalition forces bested an insurgent force, which was later determined to be guarding a large heroin lab. Both attacks followed a night of fighting between insurgents and Afghan and coalition troops. A number of insurgents were killed in the firefights.

The heroin lab was located about 23 kilometers south of Musa Qalah, a town in Helmand province that is known to support Taliban activities. The lab contained large amounts of opium-processing chemicals, such as ammonium chloride, liquid ammonia and charcoal. Two rifles, two shotguns, ammunition, insurgent propaganda and improvised-explosive-device materials also were recovered.

U.S. and Afghan forces destroyed the laboratory and continued on with their combat patrol. About 11 kilometers north of the destroyed lab, insurgents attempted a third ambush in less than 24 hours.

During the fighting, Taliban fighters launched an 82 mm mortar into group of Afghan civilians living in Regay village. No civilians were killed, but one suffered shrapnel wounds and was provided immediate medical attention.

Afghan and coalition forces are conducting combat patrols as part of Operation Palk Mesher in southern Afghanistan. The operation is designed to disrupt and eliminate insurgent activity in Helmand province, U.S. officials said.

The Taliban have made repeated attempts to deceive media outlets with civilian casualty claims. Credible intelligence suggests that these false claims are being made in an attempt to weaken Afghan government and coalition resolve, officials said.

"The insurgents continue to follow their pattern of falsely reporting civilian casualties and continuing to put civilians in harm's way in a vain attempt to stop the advance of the (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) forces toward their support areas," said U.S. Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokeswoman. "With the discovery of their drug-making facilities, it is becoming increasingly clear why they want us to stop our operations.

"It is unfortunate that the enemies of peace and stability will stoop so low as to fire mortars at innocent Afghans to protect their drug trade," the captain said.

In other operations, Afghan soldiers accompanied by coalition troops thwarted a Taliban ambush during operations about 16 miles south of Musa Qalah, in Helmand province Aug. 25.

The Afghan-led patrol was crossing a tributary a few miles south of Regay village when more than 15 insurgents sprang an ambush with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. The Afghan and coalition forces repelled the attack. Twelve enemy fighters were killed; no Afghan army or coalition members were injured during the fighting. No Afghan civilian casualties were reported.

The area in and around the town of Musa Qalah is recognized as the largest Taliban stronghold left in Afghanistan, officials said. Afghan and coalition forces are conducting combat patrols in the area as part of Operation Palk Mesher. The operation is designed to disrupt and eliminate insurgent activity in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.

The purpose of the operation is "to strike into the heart of the insurgents' safe haven," Bowman said. "We expect that, as we maneuver deeper into this area, the Taliban will raise more and more inaccurate claims of non-combatant casualties."

The Taliban "hope that by carrying out this campaign of lies, they can get the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to end its campaign in the area," the captain said.

(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 82 news releases.)

U.S. Working to Pop Afghanistan's Drug Market Bubble

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

April 24, 2007 – The United States has a "five-pillar" plan to counter the Afghan narcotics industry, which supplies about 93 percent of the world's opium and has a virtual monopoly over the global heroin market, a top Defense Department official said here today. "The five pillars are public information, alternative livelihoods, eradication, interdiction and justice reform," Richard J. Douglas, deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics, counterproliferation and global threats, told reporters at the Pentagon.

Narcotics trade in Afghanistan hinders the country's economic growth and undermines its democratic institutions by providing extremists, terrorists and other dissidents the resources to oppose the central government, Douglas said.

The Defense Department is using the five pillars to "increase the capacity of the government of Afghanistan ... to stop narcotics trafficking," he said. "When the Afghan government is in a better position to pick up the load, it's going to take a lot of pressure off of our people, and that's what we're hoping to see."

Douglas, who visited with the governor of Afghanistan's Helmand province last year, said that despite some "sobering challenges" operationally, there is "quite a bit of political will on the part of the Afghan government to deal with this problem."

"The fact is, we're better off than we were three years ago when we started the program," he said. "There's certainly cause for optimism that Afghans themselves ... are going to be able to deal with this mission."

Drug Enforcement Agency mentors are training and equipping a specialized Afghan interdiction unit to directly address traffickers. "We are developing an Afghan intelligence fusion cell, a communications system and a number of bases of operation," Douglas said.

Additionally, a squadron of MI-17 HIP H helicopters will support the interdiction unit. "The helicopter squadron is very important because of the need for air mobility in a country with extremely rugged terrain (like Afghanistan)," he said.

In conjunction with the State Department, the Defense Department will engage in the "border management initiative, which will assist in hindering the flow of drugs leaving Afghanistan and the importation of precursor chemicals needed to turn opium into heroin," he said.

Douglas said the tactical training Afghan border police are receiving "has already reduced casualties during confrontations with narco-traffickers at the border."

The Defense Department also is cooperating with counternarcotic authorities in Central Asian "transit zone" countries to help clamp down on illicit drug exports from Afghanistan -- the "source zone."

"We have efforts under way in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan," Douglas said. "The idea is to do similar efforts to build capacity on the other side of the border, so the Afghan and bordering authorities are able to cooperate and work better together."

A softer approach in which the departments of State and Defense are jointly engaged is the "alternative livelihood pillar" that aims to introduce new crops or alternative yields into Afghanistan's agriculture to wean Afghan farmers off the poppy crop used for opium and heroin production.

Douglas said international challenges are exacerbated by consumerism in "arrival zone" countries. "The No. 1 narcotics problem we face is demand in the United States," he said.

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