Drugs Afghanistan

Despite its preaching of Islamic values, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban has a tawdry secret: Until recently, it was the world's largest producer of opium, using taxes on drugs to finance its military as it helped spread addiction to its neighbors in Asia and to Europe.

Authorities have seized 88 pounds of opium from Afghanistan and Iran and arrested 14 men in what was called a major drug smuggling ring spanning three continents. "This was a very well-structured organization with vast capabilities to import and distribute multiple kilograms of smokable raw opium, which could be easily converted into heroin," John Fernandes, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles, said on Thursday.

Authorities have seized 88 pounds of opium from Afghanistan and Iran and arrested 14 men in what was called a major drug smuggling ring spanning three continents. "This was a very well-structured organization with vast capabilities to import and distribute multiple kilograms of smokable raw opium, which could be easily converted into heroin," John Fernandes, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles, said on Thursday.

Despite its preaching of Islamic values, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban has a tawdry secret: Until recently, it was the world's largest producer of opium, using taxes on drugs to finance its military as it helped spread addiction to its neighbors in Asia and to Europe.

Iranian security forces killed more than 20 drug smugglers this week in a clash with a heavily armed gang in the border region of Sistan and Baluchistan in southeast Iran, Tehran Radio reported Friday. More than a ton of opium extract was seized, as well as grenade launchers and other weapons, it said. Iran has executed more than 500 traffickers this year in a campaign to halt the influx of drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some are sold to Iran's estimated 1 million addicts, but most are shipped on to Europe through Turkey.

SHANGHAI -- China marked International Day Against Drug Abuse by executing 64 people accused of drug crimes, officials and state media said Wednesday. Other nations staged anti-drug rallies and burned piles of confiscated narcotics. Many of the Chinese executions came immediately after public rallies at which thousands watched as judges condemned the accused and authorities burned piles of seized heroin, Ecstasy and other drugs.

President Boris N. Yeltsin won pledges of military and diplomatic support from three Central Asian nations Saturday in an effort to defuse Russia's latest foreign crisis--stepped-up Islamic guerrilla raids from Afghanistan into Tajikistan. In the Tajik civil war, the bloodiest in any former Soviet republic, Russia backs the hard-line regime of ex-Communist apparatchiks and has sent 3,500 soldiers to help fight off guerrillas.

Fierce street fighting with automatic weapons, firebombs, knives and stones resulted in at least 60 deaths here Monday, bringing the two-day toll to more than 110 as a bitter ethnic conflict between Pushtun and Mohajir communities spread to new areas of Pakistan's largest city. An estimated 5,000 security personnel--army troops, paramilitary forces and provincial police--patrolled the city in jeeps mounted with machine guns Monday night but were unable to prevent periodic outbursts of violence.

The impression is growing among Russia-watchers in the West that Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev really does want to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan--but only on his own terms. Until the Kremlin is willing to risk a return to non-Communist rule after Soviet troops leave, the war will go on. When Soviet forces moved into Afghanistan in late 1979 to install a puppet regime of Moscow's choosing, the Kremlin clearly did not expect such fierce resistance.

Polish lawmakers stripped outspoken anti-establishment politician Andrzej Lepper of parliamentary immunity Friday, opening the door to his prosecution on slander charges and a possible prison term of up to two years. The leader of Self-Defense, a farmers union and populist party that holds the third-largest number of seats in Parliament, Lepper is seen by some Poles as a hero who combats corruption and the sellout of Polish national interests. Others view him as a threat to democracy.

The heroin fumes rose, gray and twisting, into the nostrils of Mohammed Jawad Rezaie. He inhaled and relaxed. For a few moments, Rezaie stopped scratching at his lice-infested groin. He lost interest in the blackened, rotting toes of his left foot, which had mesmerized him minutes earlier.

A war is being waged on the barren wastelands of eastern Iran, but few outside this country are aware of it. On one side are the forces of the Islamic Republic, in their kelly green uniforms, baseball caps and military boots, flying ancient U.S.-made Huey helicopters or hunkered down in newly built versions of medieval fortresses. Marshaled against them is a criminal enemy--clever, ruthless and formidably armed--made up of Afghani and Pakistani drug smugglers and their Iranian accomplices.