Global cartels of terrorism and drug trafficking
There is a connection between Middle Eastern terrorists and drug trafficking dating back more than two decades, when the United States and pro-Western governments opposed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. At the time, the focus was on training. and equip fierce Mujahideen fighters. resist the communist occupying forces, but the means to that end were often drug money itself. Today it is the same but growing. Drugs grown in Afghanistan find their way through smuggling routes to markets in Europe and the United States, where they are sold. In turn, millions of dollars and Eros are used to finance terrorists and their terror not only in Afghanistan but around the world. Most of these same terrorist drug organizations that fuel the terrorist network also help finance the Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. Part of this illicit cash provides working capital for international terrorist Osama Bin Laden and others.
Afghanistan produces more than 80 percent of the world’s opium supply and 90 percent of the opiate products destined for Europe and the United States. Unlike their counterparts in Colombia, the terrorists in Afghanistan enjoy the benefits of a trafficker-driven economy that lacks a national government with any interest in fighting it.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzal recently said at a press conference: “Destroy our economy, destroy a good family life in Afghanistan, which is the most important thing you can have in any country. And most important of all, the production and drug trafficking go hand in hand. ” hand in hand with terrorism, drug money fuels terrorism in Afghanistan
And the rest of the world. “
DEA intelligence from DEA confirms the presence of a link between Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and international terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Although the DEA has no direct evidence to confirm that Bin Laden is involved in drug trafficking, the sanctuary in Pakistan that Bin Laden enjoys relies on the Taliban’s support for drug trafficking, which is a major source of income in Afghanistan. The DEA’s credible source of information indicates links between the Taliban and the drug trade. The Taliban directly tax and profit from the opium trade. They even provide receipts for drug proceeds.
The drug czar John Walters has recognized that “the fight between drug trafficking has to be linked to the fight against terrorism” because “drug trafficking groups contribute to the financing of corruption and terrorism.”
Those involved in drug trafficking in the Middle East take their investment as seriously as their violent counterparts in countries like Colombia, Mexico and the Golden Triangle cartels. Attacks on foreign aid workers in Afghanistan have soared, from one a month to one every two days, particularly in areas where opium-producing flowers are harvested. “It’s absolutely true that security is worse in places where people are growing poppies,” said Diane Johnson, Afghanistan program director for Mercy Corps, a Portland, Oregon-based charity.
Afghanistan produces more opium than any other country. The DEA has not seen a decrease in availability or an increase in the price of Southwest Asian heroin in the United States and European consuming countries. This indicates that significant amounts of opiates are still available and abundant in the supply line. According to the United Nations, up to 60% of Afghanistan’s opium crop is stored for future sales.
“The revenue from the poppy trade in Afghanistan is more than all humanitarian aid combined,” said Paul Barker, CARE Afghanistan director. You are right, of course; Poppy cultivation in that country generated $ 1.2 billion in 2002, compared to $ 500 million in foreign aid, providing an incredible incentive for those who benefited from poppy cultivation to adopt an “all means necessary” approach to protect your biggest source of income.
Rep. Ed Royce, a senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on terrorism and nonproliferation, said a document from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) highlights how vulnerable the nation is when fighting the war on terror. .
“I will ask the subcommittee on terrorism to hold a hearing on the disturbing findings of the DEA report,” said Royce from California. “An avalanche of name changes from Arabic to Hispanic and the link between the drug cartels on the Texas border and Middle East terrorism must be thoroughly investigated.”
The DEA says they will continue to aggressively identify and build cases against drug trafficking organizations that contribute to global terrorism. They are intended to limit the ability of drug traffickers to use their destructive assets as merchandise to finance malicious attacks against humanity and the rule of law.
According to the DEA, its mission is to target the powerful international drug trafficking organizations operating around the world, supplying drugs to American communities and employing thousands of people to transport and distribute drugs. Some of these groups have never hesitated to use violence and terror to advance their interests, all to the detriment of law-abiding citizens. Today we see in these groups a fusion of international organized crime, drugs and terror. While the DEA does not specifically target terrorists, per se, we can target and track drug traffickers involved in terrorist acts, anywhere in the world where we can find them.
The DEA’s interest in terrorism and insurgencies is based on three considerations: national security, protection of force, and foreign intelligence.
The Colombian and Mexican drug cartels now believed to be working with international terrorists is the most pervasive organizational threat to the United States.
These new combined international drug trafficking organizations are complex organizations with well defined command and control structures that produce, transport and / or distribute large quantities of illicit drugs in Afghanistan.
The Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO) are perfect for the terrorist because they are active in all regions of the country and dominate illicit drug trafficking in all areas of both Mexico and the United States. Due to this new alliance, Mexican DTOs are expanding their operations dramatically to gain a greater share in the drug market. Colombian DTOs are the main cocaine and heroin traffickers, particularly in the Northeast; however, they are increasingly handing over control to Mexican DTOs to protect themselves from detection by law enforcement. Mexican DTOs are already major carriers and distributors of South American cocaine and heroin to the U.S. They also distribute cocaine and other drugs to many other DTOs and criminal groups that are also active in the United States, the largest cocaine and heroin consumers in the world. world.
Other reasons terrorists have chosen Mexican DTOs is that they control the transportation and wholesale distribution of most illicit drugs in all areas of the Western Hemisphere, exercising unmatched control over the transportation and wholesale distribution of drugs. cocaine, Mexican heroin, Mexican marijuana, and ice. methamphetamine. Their established land transportation routes and entrenched distribution networks enable them to supply the primary and secondary drug markets in all of these regions. Mexican DTOs are further expanding their influence around the world.
Other organizations that pander to global terrorist drug traffickers are Asian DTOs and Canadian-based criminal groups have emerged as major producers, transporters, and distributors of high-potency marijuana and MDMA to drug markets throughout the United States. Others are Colombian, Dominican, Cuban, and Jamaican DTOs who serve as the main transporters and distributors of illicit drugs in the United States. Others that get involved are criminal groups that operate in the United States and are numerous and range from small to moderate groups, loosely united that distribute one or more drugs at the medium and retail level.
The distribution of drugs is even evolving the gangs in America and, in turn, they sell them to street dealers. The street traders take the products to the smaller merchants to distribute them to our neighbors. All of this creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. And that is exactly what the terrorists want.
The United States indicates an increase in the global demand for heroin and the resulting profitability of poppy cultivation in the regions of the world where terrorist organizations thrive the most. The United States and other forces have been in Afghanistan for several years, despite having toppled the ruling Taliban government, which supports al-Qaeda terrorists. Fighting an ongoing guerrilla war against supporters of Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in hopes of creating a stable government in Kabul and the country as a whole is proving to be in short supply.
The illegal drug market is one of the most profitable in the world. It is extremely difficult to know the global value of drug trafficking, as it is an illegal, clandestine business and difficult to trace. The United Nations Drug Control Program estimates that it is worth $ 400 billion per year, equivalent to 8% of world trade. In the United States alone, drug trafficking is worth more than $ 100 billion per year. It has been almost 20 years since the US government has been waging the “War on Drugs,” but despite the billions of dollars spent, an enormous amount of drugs continues to flow into the country. And now even more are coming from Afghanistan.
However, with the increase in poppy sales in Afghanistan, local warlords whose allegiance rests comfortably with anti-American factions and those whose allegiance is for sale can be counted on to continue to grow this coveted crop to raise money for the local armies fighting to drive out the Americans. and allied troops from Afghanistan.
According to the United Nations Drug Control Program, increased heroin production will mean that the types of characters who would do business with terrorists will sell more drugs on American streets. Street crime and corruption will undoubtedly be a booming industry for years to come. On the foreign policy front, growing demand for illegal drugs from the United States and other countries means more money for terrorists to fund violent operations against coalition soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Unfortunately, it means more body bags are coming home from the front.
According to a DEA source who wants to remain anonymous, said: “There are no quick fixes for the poppy problem in Afghanistan, I would say aerial eradication is wrong, it will boost farmers, the vast majority of whom are very poor and they are trying to feed their families in the hands of the Taliban and that would be a big mistake “