NATO commander calls for blitz on Afghan drugs traffic

BRUSSELS (AFP) - NATO’s top commander in Europe called Monday for a decisive assault by international forces on drug trafficking in Afghanistan, a major source of funds for the Taliban.

“The current counter-narcotics effort is not effective. NATO must step up to this task,” US General John Craddock, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, told a seminar in Brussels on the situation in Afghanistan.

“I’m not talking about crop eradication but about destroying the ability by Taliban to buy material for IEDs (improvised explosive devices), the ability by Taliban to buy the trigger.”

Craddock said he would discuss the issue with defence ministers from the 26-member alliance when they meet in Budapest later in the week.

He has in the past called for a more direct participation by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in fighting the drugs traffic in Afghanistan, which produces 92 percent of the world’s opium and heroin.

NATO has held back in the past from taking a direct role in action to eradicate poppy fields for fear of antagonising farmers who derive their income from the crop.