Nato to attack Afghan opium facilities

BUDAPEST (AFP) - NATO announced Friday its troops would from now on target Afghanistan’s opium trade directly in an effort to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars of drug money financing the Taliban insurgency.

NATO has generally avoided tackling drugs, with many members fearful of compromising support from ordinary Afghans, including many poor farmers dependant on such crops for their livelihoods. But the Taliban, ousted from power seven years ago by a US-led coalition, has been reaping close to 100 million dollars a year from the opium trade and using the funds to buy weapons to fight NATO troops.

Nato allowed its troops to attack opium factories for the first time in Afghanistan to help stem the flow of funds to the Taliban.