01 March 2002

International Cooperation Mounts to Counter Drug-Funded Terrorism

September 11 attacks prompt more action to keep terrorists from drug profits

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The rise of drug trafficking as a source of funding for terrorist and guerilla groups is a "disturbing" trend noted in the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) of 2001 issued by the U.S. State Department March 1. In response, however, the September 11 terrorist attacks, "spurred the world's international organizations to take prompt action against terrorist financing," according to INCSR.

The wide-ranging strategy document, prepared by the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, cites United Nations Security Council action calling on member nations to combat terrorism and its financing. Successes are also noted in U.S. and E.U.-backed programs to curtail money laundering and financial crime that form the channels terrorist groups use to move illicit drug profits.

The U.S. investigation of the September terrorist attacks revealed that Afghanistan's Taliban leadership and the al Qaeda terrorist organization sustained themselves on profits from opium poppy production, the report says. The overthrow of the Taliban and the emergence of an interim administration in Afghanistan offer no immediate solution to the problem. The drug trade through Afghanistan and southwest Asia, the report says, "corrupts local authorities, is the major factor behind rising heroin addiction in refugee and indigenous populations, and is responsible for increased levels of terrorism and drug-related violence in neighboring countries."

INCSR says that the pledge of the interim administration to cooperate with the international community in counter-trafficking measures is a good first step. At the same time, the report cites credible reports that farmers in the area are apparently taking up opium cultivation again.

This annual congressionally-mandated report expresses particular concern about the linkage between criminal drug organizations and anti-democratic insurgent groups in Colombia, "the world's foremost coca cultivation country." The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) makes an estimated $300 million annual profit from drug sales, the report estimates, while the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) is also highly reliant upon narcotics trafficking. Both groups are identified as terrorist organizations that "seek to destroy the foundations of Colombian democracy."

The strategy document also credits Colombian officials with the cooperation they've demonstrated in extraditing suspected drug traffickers to the United States, where they have less capability to use bribes or intimidation to elude prosecution.

In its international survey of drug-trafficking trends, the INCSR identifies 23 countries that are major illicit drug-producing or transit nations. Of those, Burma, Haiti and Afghanistan are identified as countries that are failing to cooperate with international counter-trafficking agreements. The Foreign Assistance Act requires the administration to make this determination and recommend whether non-cooperating nations should continue to receive U.S. assistance. In this report, the President determined that it is in the national interest that Haiti and Afghanistan continue to receive U.S. aid. All but humanitarian aid will be closed off to Burma because of its lack of cooperation in counter-trafficking efforts. Burma is a major source of opium poppy and amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS).

After cocaine and heroin, ATS are named in the INCSR as the drugs of greatest concern to the United States. Methamphetamine and ATS, such as "Ecstasy," are gaining in popularity in many areas of the world, and that is another disturbing trend described in the INCSR. "Methamphetamine rivals cocaine as the stimulant of choice in many parts of the globe, including the United States, where 'meth' is one of the fastest growing drugs."

These synthetic drugs do not require land or farmers or proper weather conditions for production. They can be manufactured from available chemicals and generate large profits, so they have become an attractive new business line for drug entrepreneurs. "There are centers of methamphetamine production in countries as far apart as Burma, China, North Korea, Mexico and Poland," the report says.

The United States, other major chemical trading countries and the U.N. International Narcotics Control Board made some progress in curtailing the manufacture of synthetic drugs in 2001 with cooperative agreements to improve controls on the sales and import of the chemicals necessary for production of ATS and the processing of cocaine and heroin. Since these chemicals have few legitimate uses, and those in small quantities, international cooperation in tracking these precursor chemicals is considered a sound strategy on controlling this sector of the drug market.

The full report can be found on the Web at: http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2001/