20
NORTH from 7
Taliban have become a “narco-insurgency” that nets hundreds of millions of dollars from the global opium trade. Taliban networks use the money to finance the purchase of weap- ons and munitions and to buy protection from corrupt officials here in Afghanistan and in neighboring Pakistan. Officers in the Marine
expeditionary brigade headquartered here at Camp Leatherneck de- scribe the dual tasks of conducting counter- insurgency operations to protect the civilian population and inter- rupting this financial flow to the Taliban as “formidable” yet “es- sential” to victory. To that end, these Marines and units of the newly reorganized Combined Forces Special Opera- tions Component Com- mand-Afghanistan are working closely with special agents of the Drug Enforcement Ad- ministration to target drug labs, “storage de- pots” and key individ- uals involved in the opium trade. Last month, one of
the prime objectives of Operation Moshtarak in the opium-rich Mar- jah district of Helmand province was taking down local narco-net- works. Though Taliban fighters pledged to re- pel the “foreign invad- ers,” they proved un- able to prevent NATO and Afghan govern- ment troops from reas- serting control over the region. Now Taliban leaders
are promising to prevent coalition forces from wresting control over the city of Kandahar. Over the course of the four days we have been “in country” this time, coordinated attacks by suicide bombers have increased dramatical- ly, causing more than 50 civilian dead and wounded. Taliban pro- paganda organs blame “the American and Eu- ropean trespassers” for the casualties. Afghan President Hamid Karzai
THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, March 25, 2010
has responded by promising to dispatch more than 1,000 additional Afghan police to the region. Keeping this commitment
is a major challenge. DEA, military and contract civilian trainers and mentors acknowl- edge that fielding a “qualified and capable Afghan security force” is essential to winning
the fight here in “opium cen- tral.” But privately, they won- der whether they can train and equip adequate numbers by next summer, when the Obama administration has promised to start withdrawing American troops.
Oliver North is the host of “War Stories” on Fox News
Channel, the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance, and the author of “American Heroes.” To find out more about Oliver North and read features by other Cre- ators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www. creators.com.
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