Karzai’s Brother World's Biggest Heroin Supplier

[Spring Onion]

Karzai’s Brother World's Biggest Heroin Supplier

'India contributes to Afghan 'drugs industry'


 Afghan President’s brother runs ‘heroin lab’ across Afghanistan, is probably the world’s biggest heroin exporter
 Indian ‘diplomatic’ presence in Afghanistan larger than U.S.
 Indians using drug money to train terrorists and send them to Pakistan
 First attack in Pakistan of this Indian-Afghan drug nexus in July 2003 on a Shiite mosque in Quetta, killing 53 Pakistanis
 Islamabad refuses to take Karzai govt. to task and is busy in appeasing Kabul



By MAKHDOOM BABAR
Chief-in-Chief, The Daily Mail
Thursday, 17 July 2008.
Ahmed Quraishi-Pakistan/Middle East politics, Iraq war, lebanon war, India Pakistan relations

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A team of journalists working for The Daily Mail newspaper investigating the drug trade in Afghanistan have made a startling disclosure that Mr. Izzatullah Wasifi, a brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, was arrested by the U.S. authorities from Caesars Palace, California, along with his wife Fereshteh Behbahani on July 15, 1987, for the trafficking of high quality heroin. Wasifi was sentenced for three years and eight months while his wife was sentenced to three years probation. However after the formation of Karzai government in Kabul, Izzatullah Wasifi was made the Governor of Farah province of Afghanistan and later, last year, his brother, Hamid
Karzai, appointed him as the all powerful Chief of Afghanistan’s General Independent Administration of Anti-Corruption with responsibilities to prevent the Opium growth and Heroin production and its illicit export. Keeping in view Mr. Wasifi’s past, it is nothing less than stunning to notice that the person who a few years ago was a drug trafficker is today Afghanistan’s chief anti-drug trafficking officer.

Wasifi used to be an anchor between the Afghan drug barons and the Western drug buyers and used to run a drug trafficking operations. The Daily Mail’s findings reveal that after being made Governor of Farah province in 2001, he established close links with at least four governors of Karzai government and formed a new, huge and comprehensive drug network. Getting investments from foreign allies, Wasifi established a massive chain of the heroin laboratories across Afghanistan.

He later came up with the proposal of forming of an all powerful General Independent Administration for anti-corruption with responsibilities to check heroin production and trafficking and his brother, the Afghan President, wasted no time to appoint him the chief of the said department.


According to underworld informants, Wasifi today is considered to be the world’s biggest heroin producer and trafficker with an estimated annual income of around a trillion U.S. dollars. According to some reports, his ex-wife Fereshteh Behbahani, who was convicted with him for drug trafficking in 1987 and now lives in Los Angles, California, is also one of his associates and books orders for the supply of heroin to the U.S. and Latin America.

In a bid to capitalize on the political chaos and war-lord culture prevailing in Afghanistan, India for the first time opened four new consulates in Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat, Jalalabad and Kandahar, in addition to reopening an oversized embassy in Kabul, closed after the departure of Soviet backed regime in Afghanistan. This makes Indian diplomatic representation the largest in Afghanistan, bigger even than that of the U.S. India does not have any big legitimate commercial interests tied to these Afghan cities, neither does it have any expatriate Indian community nor frequent travelers to or from India and Afghanistan seeking visas of passport assistance.

Taking into account the current socio-economic and security conditions in Afghanistan, there seems to be no commercial or consular justification for India to have opened a consulate, for example, in the small-remote Iranian town to Zahidan on the border of Balochistan province of Pakistan.

These Indian consulates are actually working to strengthen bonds with the Afghan warlords and drug barons who are one and the same owing to the entrenchment of drug culture in the Afghan political structure. The Pakistani government has gathered sufficient evidence linking recent incidents of sectarian terrorism in Pakistan with the Afghan warlords sympathetic to the Northern Alliance. While training to the sectarian terrorism is being provided by Indian intelligence agency RAW’s personnel stationed in the Indian consulates in Afghanistan, financing for terrorism against Pakistan is invariably being done through drug money. Disclosure of the former Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat about the existence of six Indian terrorism training camps in Afghanistan is a clear pointer in this direction.

The maiden horrific attacks by this narco-terrorist nexus was carried out in July 2003 on a Shiite Mosque in Quetta, Balochistan, killing 53 worshippers which was followed by a number of such attacks and it is believed that the last week’s attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul was also the result of some ex-players of the Wasifi racket who were expelled from the racket on suggestions of some new players from India.

It is of great concern that the members of the Northern Alliance, who are known for their direct links to the production of opiates, constitute a considerable portion of the government at all levels. Ironically, Northern Alliance members in the Interior Ministry are now responsible for counter-narcotics operations. Furthermore, high-level officials in Kandahar, Helmand, and the Defense Ministry are also reportedly tied to the drug trade. This situation is further exacerbated by numerous recent allegations that soldiers from the interim government’s security forces have been guarding drug markets.

“The U.S. must understand the strong relationship between drug production and terrorism and should, therefore, recognize the need for strict action against drug production in Afghanistan. The U.S. administration must redefine its priorities in Afghanistan and realize that the elimination of drug economy is an issue of peace and stability and a sine qua non for its success in the war-on-terror”, expressed Andrew Moses, a renowned U.S. analyst, when contacted by The Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail’s investigations further indicate that the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) and the NATO forces have declined to pursue the eradication of opium poppy crops under the pretext that the activity was beyond their mandate. Clearly, the U.S. is avoiding a potential conflict with the Afghan warlords, the major beneficiaries of drug, whose political support is essential for the sustenance of Karzai government. However, in doing so the U.S. is ignoring the strong nexus between the drug economy and the continuing instability in Afghanistan and the growing terrorist activities in the region. The Afghan warlords have been netting huge profits from the drug trade emanating from poppy production in areas under their control.

It is not difficult to see that the Afghan warlords have vested interest in ensuring that the State remains week in Afghanistan so that they can continue with their profit-yielding drug trade without the fear of a strong action by the authorities. Consequently, the warlords are channeling a portion of their drug earnings to fuel terrorist activities and attacks against the Karzai government and coalition forces. Thus by giving a free-hand to the warlords and drug barons in return for their political support to the Karzai government, the U.S. is in fact undermining its own objective of peace and security within Afghanistan.

In comparison with these dubious allies of Washington in Kabul, Pakistani officials spent the past six years giving the Americans realistic recommendations on how to restore stability to Afghanistan. One of those recommendations was to neutralize the influence of the drug barons in the Karzai government by welcoming back the alienated Pashtun majority of Afghans. Strangely, Washington continues to ignore the recommendations of its Pakistani ally for fear of alienating the corrupt elements in the Karzai government.

Even more surprising is how Islamabad continues to shy away from creating some international noise about the serious challenges of Indian-sponsored narco-terrorism from Afghanistan, Pak-Afghan warlords and their involvement in drug trade. Apart from being a victim of terrorist activities financed by Afghan drug money, Pakistan has also suffered the most from the menace of heroin addiction. As such Pakistan has a strong stake in lobbying for a more proactive international strategy to fight the narco terrorism nexus in Afghanistan.

According to some unconfirmed reports, Pakistani intelligence agencies, in interrogations with arrested al Qaeda operatives, gleaned information that shows that terrorist cells in Afghanistan heavily relied on Afghan drug money to run their operations. On the other side, Pakistan’s anti narcotics authorities have been putting pressure on the Pakistan government and Islamabad’s Foreign Office to take up the drug trafficking issue with Kabul. However the Pakistan government is yet to take up this issue with Karzai government in a strong manner since Islamabad is busy in appeasing Kabul in an effort to establish some kind of an extraordinarily cordial relationship between Kabul and Islamabad. Despite the fact that Pakistan and Afghanistan governments have signed a number of accords and agreements for a joint terror combat and eradication of the menace of drug trade with Interior Ministers from both the countries holding frequent meetings, it remains a matter of prime concern for Islamabad that Kabul has not moved even an inch to counter the drug business in Afghanistan.

Makhdoom Babar is the Editor in Chief of The Daily Mail in Islamabad. This article is extracted from the full version of the report, published at The Daily Mail - Daily News from Pakistan - Newspaper from Pakistan along with more information on sources used in this article. Mr. Babar can be reached at macbabur@hotmail.com

 

[Majnun]

During the Indian Puppet's tenure, Afghanistan has relied heavily on drug trade to keep going. Unfortunately, the US does not find any problem with this.
Hopefully, though, this will be a big dent in Karzai's Indian-backed NA government. I can't believe his own brother is doing this!
India is constantly accusing Pakistan of training people to go to Kashmir, this shows that India uses a lot of money to hurt Pakistan-money that comes from drugs.
I hope this hurts India, NA and Karzai.
I am absolutely sick of Karzai.

 

[Majnun]

It is of great concern that the members of the Northern Alliance, who are known for their direct links to the production of opiates, constitute a considerable portion of the government at all levels. Ironically, Northern Alliance members in the Interior Ministry are now responsible for counter-narcotics operations. Furthermore, high-level officials in Kandahar, Helmand, and the Defense Ministry are also reportedly tied to the drug trade. This situation is further exacerbated by numerous recent allegations that soldiers from the interim government’s security forces have been guarding drug markets.

This is what comes of a corrupt Indian NA puppet being the president.

“

The U.S. must understand the strong relationship between drug production and terrorism and should, therefore, recognize the need for strict action against drug production in Afghanistan. The U.S. administration must redefine its priorities in Afghanistan and realize that the elimination of drug economy is an issue of peace and stability and a sine qua non for its success in the war-on-terror”, expressed Andrew Moses, a renowned U.S. analyst, when contacted by The Daily Mail.

Ah well, they can always blame Pakistan for it.

The Daily Mail’s investigations further indicate that the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) and the NATO forces have declined to pursue the eradication of opium poppy crops under the pretext that the activity was beyond their mandate. Clearly, the U.S. is avoiding a potential conflict with the Afghan warlords, the major beneficiaries of drug, whose political support is essential for the sustenance of Karzai government. However, in doing so the U.S. is ignoring the strong nexus between the drug economy and the continuing instability in Afghanistan and the growing terrorist activities in the region. The Afghan warlords have been netting huge profits from the drug trade emanating from poppy production in areas under their control.

I'm no fan of the Taliban but under them, opium production was eradicated in Afghanistan and there was more security in the country.

In comparison with these dubious allies of Washington in Kabul, Pakistani officials spent the past six years giving the Americans realistic recommendations on how to restore stability to Afghanistan. One of those recommendations was to neutralize the influence of the drug barons in the Karzai government by welcoming back the alienated Pashtun majority of Afghans. Strangely, Washington continues to ignore the recommendations of its Pakistani ally for fear of alienating the corrupt elements in the Karzai government.

This comes from the greatest promoter of democracy, the US.
It really is very sad how the Pashtun majority, which is about 17 million of Afghanistan's 31 million population, is given little or no say in governance (and, no, I don't think of Karzai as a true Pashtun).

Even more surprising is how Islamabad continues to shy away from creating some international noise about the serious challenges of Indian-sponsored narco-terrorism from Afghanistan, Pak-Afghan warlords and their involvement in drug trade. Apart from being a victim of terrorist activities financed by Afghan drug money, Pakistan has also suffered the most from the menace of heroin addiction. As such Pakistan has a strong stake in lobbying for a more proactive international strategy to fight the narco terrorism nexus in Afghanistan

.

What can we do? If we create this international noise mentioned, we will end up hurting ourselves, the US will hurt us, India will hurt us, Karzai and his NA will move even further from us than they have. And, very importantly, if Karzai and the NA move further from Pakistan then they already are, that could hurt millions of Afghans and that is something we do not want.

According to some unconfirmed reports, Pakistani intelligence agencies, in interrogations with arrested al Qaeda operatives, gleaned information that shows that terrorist cells in Afghanistan heavily relied on Afghan drug money to run their operations. On the other side, Pakistan’s anti narcotics authorities have been putting pressure on the Pakistan government and Islamabad’s Foreign Office to take up the drug trafficking issue with Kabul. However the Pakistan government is yet to take up this issue with Karzai government in a strong manner since Islamabad is busy in appeasing Kabul in an effort to establish some kind of an extraordinarily cordial relationship between Kabul and Islamabad. Despite the fact that Pakistan and Afghanistan governments have signed a number of accords and agreements for a joint terror combat and eradication of the menace of drug trade with Interior Ministers from both the countries holding frequent meetings, it remains a matter of prime concern for Islamabad that Kabul has not moved even an inch to counter the drug business in Afghanistan.

Same thing as usual. Karzai will blame Pakistan. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

[fatman17]

^^^I am sure everyone is aware that Karzai's brothers also live in chicago and own pizza huts!!!!!

 

[Skywalker]

Some call this coward prime minster Gilani and wake him up from deep nap...before its too late.

 

[fatman17]

Some call this coward prime minster Gilani and wake him up from deep nap...before its too late.

when one is a puppet there is no need for the wake up call!

 

[amna]

ahh good old pakistani style blitzkreig journalism. how i wish all this were true.

but sadly, Izzatullah Wasifi is not even Karzai's brother.

macbabur@hotmail.com is lame.

 

[Spring Onion]

how i wish all this were true..

Izzatullah Wasifi, the government of Afghanistan's anti-corruption chief had a criminal records in the US and was arrested at Caesars Palace on July 15, 1987, for selling 650 grams (23 ounces) of heroin. Prosecutors said the drugs were worth $2 million on the street. Wasifi served three years and eight months in prison.

The Associated Press, Mar.8, 2007

Hope Indians have the brain not to consider AP as Pakistani news organization

but sadly, Izzatullah Wasifi is not even Karzai's brother.

macbabur@hotmail.com is lame.

Karzai's brother Ahmed Wali Karzai is kingpin of many durg trafficking mafias in Afghanistan and Wasifi is also being protected by Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brorther of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

 

[Spring Onion]

ahh good old pakistani style blitzkreig journalism. how i wish all this were true.

let me post something from Your Indian jouranalism here my dear Indian Baji or Bhaijan




The new Golden Triangle of Afghan opium

Romesh Bhattacharji
09 July 2008

Afghanistan's notorious reputation of being the world's largest opium producer is only getting stronger in an atmosphere of corruption and state patronage. The new menacing triangle in the west, producing 70% of opium and 90% of the country's heroin, has surpassed the 1980s Golden Crescent in area.
Nature achieved this year what six years of United States-led anti-narcotics enforcement could not do in Afghanistan. Bad weather effected a decline in the country’s opium production by ruining a sizable chunk of the crop.
For Afghanistan, narcotics and insurgency are intertwined and inseparable problems. Illicit cultivation of opium was used by the US to finance the insurrection against the Najibullah government.

Many members of the Mujahideen, who were the Central Intelligence Agency’s paws, are now holding powerful posts in the US-propped Hamid Karzai government. These collaborations have ensured the Karzai government’s failure to contain opium production.
Many members of the Mujahideen, who were the Central Intelligence Agency’s paws, are now holding powerful posts in the US-propped Hamid Karzai government.
In December 2005, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized nine tonnes of opium from the house of the then Governor of Helmand, Sher Muhammad Akhundzada – the DEA is the only US organisation that seems sincere about reducing narcotics trafficking.
Patronising environment
But, American and British military intelligence forces ensured that he was made a Member of Parliament. Similar is the case of Izzatullah Wasifi, the Director of the General Independent Administration of Anti-Corruption (GIAAC). He was arrested in July 1987 with 600 grammes of heroin in Caesar’s Palace Hotel, Las Vegas.
President Karzai’s step-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai is reported to be the ablest protector of all drug traffickers. With such patronage given by US forces and some people in the Afghan government, it is no surprise that opium production does not decrease.


President Karzai’s step-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai is reported to be the ablest protector of all drug traffickers. With such patronage given by US forces and some people in the Afghan government, it is no surprise that opium production does not decrease.
The latest United Nations Rapid Survey for 2008 has projected that Afghanistan produced 8,200 tonnes of opium in 2007. During the days of the much-maligned Najibullah government in the 1980s, the average opium production was only around 300 tonnes annually.
That narcotics money supports the Taliban has been well known, but the Americans have begun to accept it only now.
One billion dollars a year is spent to control narcotics trafficking in Afghanistan, yet opium seizures decrease. As the fields gain in area, so does the power of the Taliban.


Iran example
Iran, which loses about 300 soldiers a year in its efforts to prevent narcotics trafficking, spends less than one-tenth this amount but is eight times as successful in seizing drugs.
The Taliban pays its soldiers $300 each a month, whereas the Afghan soldier earns only $40 a month.
This is because the Taliban soldiers’ salaries are met by the opium contractor of an area. The muster rolls of the Afghan police and Army show more soldiers than are actually present.
The salaries of the ghost soldiers are pocketed by the officers. The war against drugs and the Taliban is bound to fail in such an atmosphere of corruption and collusion.
In 2007, Iran seized 2,31,352 kg of Afghan opium while Afghanistan could seize only 90,990 kg. Afghanistan seized 9,079 kg of heroin while Pakistan seized 24,341 kg, Iran 12,493 kg and China 9,085 kg.
In 2007, Iran seized 2,31,352 kg of Afghan opium while Afghanistan could seize only 90,990 kg. Afghanistan seized 9,079 kg of heroin while Pakistan seized 24,341 kg, Iran 12,493 kg and China 9,085 kg.
Thus Afghanistan, which produces 90% of the world’s opium and heroin, seizes only 27% of the opium and 10% of the heroin. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces have actually made Afghanistan a safe place to grow opium.
Dangerous Triangle


The Golden Triangle/ Photo credit: Frontline
With such ineffectiveness, a new and more dangerous triangle has emerged in western Afghanistan. It encloses contiguous areas of Afghanistan’s borders with Iran and Pakistan. Within this triangle comes 70% of the opium and 90% of the country’s heroin cultivation; the majority of the 110 narcotics-trafficking routes in the country are also here.
Opium cultivation, heroin refining and the trafficking in these are protected activities here. It surpasses the Golden Crescent of the 1980s in area and is more menacing.
Afghanistan has a 920-km-long border with Iran. Most of it is easy-to-cross deserts. The Iranians have set up forts on their side of the border and have also made 28 forts for Afghanistan. The most troublesome province is Nimruz.
India is building a 300-km-long road from Zaranj to Delaram, where most of this province’s opium is cultivated. Nimruz, which is in the southwest corner of the triangle, is a Baluch speaking area, as are adjacent territories in Pakistan and Iran.
A huge refining facility run by the Baluch community flourishes in Baramcha in southwest Nimruz and close to Helmand. The Baluch facility has the protection of the largely Pashtun Taliban forces, and is not disturbed by the enforcement agencies in its production of high-quality heroin.
NATO support
The rampant venality of the Afghans has the tacit support of the US-led NATO forces. Multi-million dollar contracts and expensive consultancies are given, mainly to American and British companies, to find ways to contain narcotics trafficking; but no one asks for results.
Afghanistan has received $14 billion as aid in the last six years but there is nothing to show that it has been utilised honestly. As for dishonest utilisation, one can see huge, ugly and gaudy buildings, each worth millions of dollars, in the Sherpur and Wazir Akbar Khan suburbs of Kabul.
Afghanistan has received $14 billion as aid in the last six years but there is nothing to show that it has been utilised honestly. As for dishonest utilisation, one can see huge, ugly and gaudy buildings, each worth millions of dollars, in the Sherpur and Wazir Akbar Khan suburbs of Kabul.
These are owned by Afghans and sub-let to foreigners. Narco kleptocracy, narco terrorism and narco politics rule Afghanistan. Except for 3,00,000 or so citizens, who earn thousands of dollars, about 28 million people in the country earn an average of $35 a month. There is complete failure in every sphere of civil society.
Opium is supposed to be destroyed by US contractors, who courageously hit only the fields of the poorest farmers. Some of these farmers have to repay huge loans taken before sowing opium poppy seeds by selling their daughters or sisters to the traffickers who advanced them the money.
Dependence on opium
The lives of 14 million people in the country are dependent on opium. Many poor farmers have a better-than-average life because of opium. Hence mere eradication will not solve the problem as six years of enforcement failure has lamentably proved.
It is not merely an enforcement headache but a political one. In an impoverished country where establishing a Coca-Cola plant is touted as industrialisation, there is not much hope for increasing prosperity.
The cement factories and the textile mills of the 1980s have not yet been revived. A more respectable, humane and practical alternative to opium cultivation will have to be found.
In Herat and Farah to the north, smuggling is more audacious. Here, in post after lonely sand-swept post, I heard the familiar refrain of drugs being moved in cavalcades that are protected by anti-tank rockets and heavy machine guns.
These too come in through the open border, and are paid for from the drug money. So organised is the entire operation.
Seizures on the Afghan side are actually offerings the border villagers have to make to buy peace with the troops. Development projects are only meant for official reports so that more money can be siphoned off in their name.
After travelling miles on a dusty road to Kohasan, a town east of Islam Qala near the Iran border, I was surprised by a 600-metre-long tarred road. At the end of it was a huge signboard proclaiming that it had been built by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Contempt for the US
I stopped at a tailor’s shop nearby and asked a few people what they thought of the improvement in their lives since the US occupation.
The response was abusive contempt. They had praise for Iran which gave them electricity and the excellent three-lane tarred road from Meshed to Herat, and for India which is building a dam on the Hirai rud (river).
But what surprised me was the affection and regard they still had for the Najibullah regime, which they consider the golden period in Afghanistan’s history. In those days, they could save $5 from a monthly income of $35 but today it is impossible to save anything though they make $150 a month on an average.
Legalisng poppy cultivation
Legalising opium cultivation is now a serious alternative for the country. Turkey in the 1970s had done so with its illicit opium poppy cultivation.
Legalising opium cultivation is now a serious alternative for the country. Turkey in the 1970s had done so with its illicit opium poppy cultivation.
A London-based organisation, the Senlis Council, has, after considerable field research, made a Poppy for Medicine (P4M) proposal, which has received overwhelming support from the European Parliament.
P4M suggests that the crop should be legalised, since enforcement and eradication have failed miserably in Afghanistan. As per this plan, the village council (shura) will supervise the cultivation. It will have the power to delicense and penalise any farmer within its fold if he diverts his opium crop.
The farmer is the “least corrupt” of the entire Afghan society. It is deprivation that has forced him to cultivate opium. With poverty and creditors banging at his door, the farmer pays the Taliban to protect his opium.
Advantage of P4M
The biggest advantage of the P4M scheme is that the Taliban will eventually be starved of funds that sustain it now.
All the opium produced in Afghanistan at present is illegal. With the P4M proposal, the quantity of legal opium garnered would be much more than the 180 tonnes that is seized annually.
This simple and practical plan has many advantages: it can make farmers happy, most of the opium produced will no longer go for illicit purposes, there will be more funds for development at the village level, and as each year passes there will be fewer farmers cultivating opium.
The Afghanistan government opposes this plan because the US and British authorities are against it. Also, it does not suit the traffickers. Most Afghans support this idea, but they do not have a say.
The other motivation to go for this scheme is that there is not enough cheap morphine – a derivative of opium and the most efficacious painkiller – to go around. Eighty per cent of all the morphine produced in the world is consumed by just eight countries.
Even among them (in the US 55.5 mg per head is consumed annually) only 40% can afford morphine.
In India, morphine is produced by the government and a 10 mg tablet costs about three cents (Rs.1.26), whereas the same tablet is sold for $60 by American and British multinational companies.
At least 140 tonnes of extra morphine is required to meet the current shortage. Once the system improves, the diversion could be restricted to around 30%, which is what it is in India.
Afghan opium has much higher morphine content than opium produced elsewhere.
If it is true that morphine consumption has reached saturation, as the International Narcotics Control Board says, why are the United Kingdom and the US growing opium in thousands of hectares surreptitiously?
They are buying less and less from India and Turkey on the specious excuse that there is no demand for morphine.
Meanwhile, with enforcement failing and with the Taliban getting richer, security in many countries far away from the region is being threatened.

Source : Frontline
----------------------

The new Golden Triangle of Afghan opium — OneWorld South Asia Home

 

[muse]

Excellent piece Jana

Why do you suppose the poppy is tolerated the way it is - why has this business been allowed to prosper by US and NATO?

"what surprised me was the affection and regard they still had for the Najibullah regime, which they consider the golden period in Afghanistan’s history."

Just think about that -- Najibullah, notorious boss of KHAD, super communist goon, as a golden period of Afghan history. -- No mention of the crews of Afghan army and secret police picking up 16 and 17 year old boys from the street and enlisting then in the afghan army, without notification to their parents, no mention of picking up students who observed the ramazan fast or who prayed 5 times a day -- Golden period indeed - even now if you go to bazaars or visit cd shops, najib's speech are very popular.

 

[vish]

Jana:

Just because we have counsulates there and talk to them does not mean we are "pepping" them up. Thes are the guys in power and unless and until the Afghan economy, if there is a thing as such, Afghan farmers will grow opium. You are jumping the gun.

Muse:

The reason why opium production is being tolerated is to keep youth unemployment in check.

 

[muse]

no youth unemployment problem in India? Come on, now.

 

[vish]

no youth unemployment problem in India? Come on, now.

I was talking about Afghanistani youth.

 

[Jane Nice]

Shir Mohammed Akhundzada: former governor of Helmand.

He is from the Akhundzadas family in Helmand who played an important role from the very beginning of the conflict in the southwest. Belonging to main tribe of Helmand, the Alizais, they hailed from Musa Qala district in northern Helmand.

While in the new districts of Nad Ali and Nawa, where farmers tended to be immigrants from mixed tribal backgrounds and tribal rhetoric had little impact, in the other districts tribal networks remained much more solid, especially in the north. It was first Mullah Mohammad Nasim Akhundzada who became a prominent and leading Jihadi commander in Helmand. The information available on Nasim is contradictory. He appears to have been a relatively charismatic military leader, who could count on a large number of devoted fighters. He is still seen as having led many successful battles against the Russians and Afghan government forces, although the extent of his actual success has probably been exaggerated, particularly as far as the Soviet Army is concerned.

Consequently he was able to clear most areas of Helmand, Arozgan, Farah and Kandahar (Southern Afghanistan) from Red force and their partners.

After defeating the Red Forces his first step was to eliminate illicit poppy cultivation in the area that highly affected/encouraged the society to its top backwardness and this was the time Helmand diverted the focal attention of UN and other international organizations.

Lately he was selected Loy Drastiz (Top Commander) of Mujahidin transitional government and this was the time he had been called to Peshawar in order to conference gathering of all Mujahidin leaders.

Aforementioned poppy issues held and focused the oppositions of universal mafia and national warlord smugglers against him simultaneously he arrived to Peshawar and assaults for killing him were successful on 25-march-1990 with his strong commanders including Nazar Mohammad of Musa Qala.

The nexus selects alternatively his elder brother Star General Alhaj Mohammd Rasul Akhundzada as his army leader and was able to capture Lashkergah city center of Helmand and was selected as governor of this province in 13-June-1393 on the behalf of central (Kabul) government.

Besides pursuing the manner of Nasim Akhundzada and paying a special attention for the basis remained from previous governments, Rasul Akhundzada attempted for the gas pipeline projects going to Pakistan from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and could offer a special beneficiary to Afghan government and specially South West region of the country and this was all done by him because he had this region under the coverage his mandate but unfortunately he was died on 5-sep-1994 due to the cancer sickness he already had.

Instead of him his younger brother was selected as governor in 6th Dec- 1994.
18th march 2000 was date that he was died by unknown warlords in Quetta City of Pakistan as well.

Their family series has been disconnected from the government until the Talibans get defeated by present afghan government in support of foreign forces.

This was the time when son of Mohammad Rasul Akhundzada Alhaj Shir Mohammad Akhundzada came up with a strong tribal force to Afghanistan and became alternative of his father (Helmand governor) in the an occasion that Helmand was a strong base of support for the Taliban in previous years, so it felt to more need in order to accomplish.

And when he set as governor he had many outputs in educational sector and security which were prioritized requirements.

114,000 students were educating in various areas of the province from which an amount of 19000 generated females.

2500 teachers, who were teaching from which an amount of 260 were female teachers that was an unprecedented promotion seemed in education yet.

The third priority that diverted the attention of the world was narcotics hence he started his attempts for anti-narcotics that highly caused encourage him with preferential certificates requested by ministry of anti-narcotics from the side of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Generally the time of his government in Helmand covered all district with safe security except using the foreign forces due to keeping an organizational equality among various tribes in the province that strongly supported him.

Talking to journalists in Kabul, Shir Muhammad Akhundzada claimed that while he was governor of Helmand for four years, NATO did not drop a single bomb on the province, no civilians were killed, and no districts fell to the Taliban. “If I were still there, I am sure things would be the same as before.”



He had identified some fundamental projects to be implemented and applied in Helmand like constructing a canal from Kajaki dam to irrigate north Helmand and Zamindawar, constructing and intake on Musa Qala River, constructing Kamal Khan (Nemroz) intake and irrigate the unproductive farms that could basically sophisticate the power of life in the people with a huge amount of beneficiary.

Unfortunately nevertheless central government and UN didn’t notify these requests moreover gave the opportunity for international and national mafia for his blaming attempts and this is the cause today he is a member of Afghanistan Senate at present.

Besides all these a 5 years plan for Helmand reconstruction was shared with the UN but still it hadn’t been considered anyway what he did with lack of governmental facilities are more than which could be expected like electricity supply to the whole province that can change the life a moment.

Actually all this happened because the mafia never left him alone and the story is that ISI (Pakistan Intelligence) was in Arozgan (border province with Helmand) and they were interested to operate in Helmand because the natural background was more propitious in Helmand for them and they could never reach the target in Akhundzada’s presence, therefore they endeavored to blame/change him.

Since he left Helmand, the atmosphere has daily being scarier and precarious security situation covered 80% of the province.

Akhundzada is a powerful tribal leader in the area and Karzai is convinced his return would help the government reassert control.

“We removed Akhundzada on the allegation of drug-running, and delivered the province to drug runners, the Taliban, to terrorists, to a threefold increase of drugs and poppy cultivation,” he said. “Now there are hundreds of tons of heroin in basements across Helmand.”

Karzai believes Akhundzada’s powerful militia would beat back the Taliban, allowing British troops to focus on winning “hearts and minds”

Security analysts in the country say the situation has become “even direr”. While not taking territory, the Taliban is terrorizing the population, targeting roads and restricting the government’s ability to function.