NARCOTERRORISM
What is narcoterrorism?
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), narcoterrorism
refers to terrorist acts carried out by groups that are directly or
indirectly involved in cultivating, manufacturing, transporting, or
distributing illicit drugs. The term is generally applied to groups that use
the drug trade to fund terrorism. However, it has also sometimes been used
to refer to the phenomenon of increasingly close ties between powerful drug
lords motivated by simple criminal profit and terrorist groups with
political agendas, particularly in Colombia. But some experts say that the
term is too vague and is mostly used by politically driven Western
politicians and journalists out to score rhetorical points. They argue that
nearly every terrorist group operating today raises some money from the drug
trade, and that while terrorists and drug traffickers often share some
short-term goals, they have different long-term objectives (political goals
for terrorists, greed for drug lords) and shouldn’t be conflated.
How are terrorist groups connected to the drug trade?
In
several ways. Some terrorist groups, like Colombia’s FARC, collect taxes
from people who cultivate or process illicit drugs on lands that it
controls; others, including Hezbollah and Colombia’s AUC, traffic in drugs
themselves. Moreover, some terrorist groups are supported by states funded
by the drug trade; Afghanistan’s former Taliban rulers, for instance, earned
an estimated $40 million to $50 million per year from taxes related to
opium. The drug trade is also a significant part of the economies of
Syria—which has funded terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad—and Lebanon, a haven for numerous terrorist groups
including Hezbollah and Hamas.
Do terrorists use the drug trade to wreak havoc?
They
might, some experts say. Osama bin Laden has reportedly advocated using
narcotics trafficking to weaken Western societies by supplying them with
addictive drugs. (In 2000, Americans spent almost $63 billion on illegal
narcotics.
KASHMIR
Q and A: The Kashmir Conflict
What are the roots of the Kashmir conflict which has led to two wars
between India and Pakistan?
Who are the Kashmir militants?
Delhi launched air strikes to stop militants encroaching over the Line of
Control - but who are these groups - and are they linked to Pakistan?
Q
and A: The Kashmir Conflict
What are the roots of the Kashmir conflict which has led to two wars between
India and Pakistan?
Who are the Kashmir militants?
Delhi launched air strikes to stop militants encroaching over the Line of
Control - but who are these groups - and are they linked to Pakistan?
The balance of firepower
Although war games have been going on for more than 30 years near the line
dividing Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, tit-for-tat nuclear
weapons tests in 1998 have raised the stakes.
Troubled relations
India and Pakistan were once one country. But since the sub-continent's
partition more than 50 years ago, they have been arch rivals.
