WASHINGTON — The Taliban have built a huge and profitable drug operation in Afghanistan while provincial governors look the other way, the latest grim sign of backsliding in a country the U.S. has spent six years and billions of dollars trying to salvage.
A report Friday on drugs — it said Afghanistan now produces 93 percent of the world’s opium poppy — comes hand in hand with the resurgence of Taliban militants despite U.S. anti-insurgent efforts. Also on the rise: terrorist violence such as roadside bombs, suicide bombings and attacks on police.
The problems have worsened rather than diminished under the watch of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul and the relatively small number of American forces stationed in the nation while larger numbers are deployed to Iraq.
More than 6,500 people — mostly insurgents — died in violence in 2007, according to an Associated Press count of figures provided by local and international officials. It was the bloodiest year since the U.S.-led toppling of the Taliban in 2001.
Afghanistan risks becoming a failed state because of deteriorating international support and the growing insurgency, warned a recent independent study co-chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones and former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering.
Just last week, the top U.S. intelligence official told Congress that President Hamid Karzai’s government controls only 30 percent of the country.
The resurgent Taliban control about 10 percent, while local tribes control the rest, National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell said.
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry has rejected McConnell’s discouraging assessment, insisting the government controls the vast majority of the country; however, the State Department’s account of the drug problem Friday was in line with McConnell’s view.
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LONDON — Prince Harry pulled from Afghan duty
Prince Harry returned home Saturday after a 10-week Afghan tour of duty that security officials fear could now make him a top target for extremists.
His body armor hanging loose off one shoulder, Harry, 23, descended the steps of a Royal Air Force troop carrier with about 170 other soldiers. He handed some of his gear to his brother, Prince William, and was led by his father, Prince Charles, to a waiting family car.
Harry left the southern province of Helmand after details of his deployment appeared Thursday on The Drudge Report website, leaking news kept secret under an agreement between the Ministry of Defense and all major news organizations.
The Associated Press
