'', The New York Times, 22 December 2008

EXCERPT: "A drive by the NATO alliance to disrupt Afghanistan's drug trade has been hobbled by new objections from member nations that say their laws do not permit soldiers to carry out such operations, according to senior commanders here. The objections are being raised despite an agreement two months ago that the alliance's campaign in Afghanistan would be broadened to include attacks on narcotics facilities, traffickers, middlemen and drug lords whose profits help to finance insurgent groups. During a recent visit here, Gen. John Craddock, NATO's supreme allied commander, expressed surprise upon learning of what he described as a gap between the decision by alliance defense ministers to authorize aggressive counternarcotics missions and the lack of follow-through because of objections from several of the countries that make up the NATO force in Afghanistan. As the United States and its allies strive to devise a better strategy to stabilize and rebuild Afghanistan, American policy makers and military officers say it is critical to choke off the drug money that sustains the insurgency, much as they are working with Pakistan to halt the use of its tribal areas as a haven by the Taliban and other antigovernment forces just across the border from Afghanistan."

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See also:
'Drug lords to go on "kill or capture" list', Los Angeles Times, 23 December 2008
'US miffed by NATO Afghan drug stance', UPI, 23 December 2008
'Life in Helmand', Islam Online, 22 December 2008
'Life in Helmand: Where Rich rewards are reaped by poppy farmers, police and the Taliban', Buzzle, 21 December 2008

Related posts:
'NATO is set to end its hands-off policy on the heroin trade', 6 November 2008
'NATO ministers endorse greater anti-drug role in Afghanistan', 14 October 2008
'US, UN differ on Afghan opium ebb', 24 October 2008
'NATO urged to do more for Afghan drugs problem', 13 May 2008
'The Taliban's opium war', 6 July 2007