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To: lurqer who wrote (37522)	2/9/2004 2:15:21 PM
From: lurqer	Respond to of 89467

NATO Warns of Afghan Capital's Insecurity The head of NATO warned Monday that security remains fragile in Afghanistan, even in the capital where patrolling peacekeepers are on edge after suicide bombers killed two of their comrades. As command of the NATO-led security force passed to Canada, President Hamid Karzai thanked the troops for helping revive Afghanistan. But he also appealed for more help amid U.N. warnings that drug lords could turn the country into a ``narco-state.'' NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Kabul for talks with Karzai as the alliance prepares to expand into the country's sometimes lawless provinces. ``The situation is fragile,'' de Hoop Scheffer said, but insisted that peacekeepers wouldn't be deterred. ``They have to do what they are there for and that is to provide as much stability and security as they can.'' Alliance diplomats said intelligence reports indicate up to 60 potential suicide bombers may have infiltrated Kabul, which had been relatively tranquil until the two attacks in late January killed one Canadian and one British soldier. The deposed Taliban regime claimed responsibility for both, and threatened more suicide strikes in Afghan cities - a shift in tactics for the insurgents, who have otherwise focused on hit-and-run attacks in the south and east of the country. After requests from Karzai and months of delays, several NATO defense ministers indicated Friday at a meeting in Germany that they would provide more troops - following repeated warnings from de Hoop Scheffer that the alliance's credibility was on the line. Accompanied by Supreme Allied Commander Gen. James L. Jones and other top NATO officials, de Hoop Scheffer said at a news conference that Karzai had urged him three times to step up the deployment. Germany and Canada currently provide most of the 6,000 troops in the NATO-run force, which is separate from the combat operation involving 11,500 U.S.-led troops. Karzai made no mention of any expansion in a speech at a ceremony where Canadian Lt. Gen. Rick Hillier took command of the International Security Assistance Force from German Lt. Gen. Goetz Gliemeroth. But Karzai appealed at a conference earlier Monday for more international aid to counter the country's booming drug trade. Some proposals envisage a greater role for ISAF in this fight. Poppy cultivation threatens the country's security, economy and even its Islamic roots, he told an audience of Afghan leaders, foreign diplomats, military officers and counter-narcotics experts. ``To eliminate poppy cultivation around the country, to destroy heroin labs and arrest the smugglers, we are in need of our neighboring countries and the international community,'' Karzai said. Production of opium - the raw material for heroin - has boomed in the two years since a U.S.-led offensive ousted the Taliban. U.N. surveys estimate Afghanistan accounted for three quarters of the world's opium last year, bringing in $2.3 billion - more than half of the nation's gross domestic product. New surveys suggest even more will be planted this year. Afghan officials, with advice from Britain and the United States, have outlined a plan to eradicate production in 10 years amid concern that al-Qaida and the resurgent Taliban are profiting from the trade. But diplomats concede that so far progress has been feeble and time is running out. Afghan officials have vowed to destroy huge amounts of crops and arrest big smugglers in coming months. But there are doubts about the ability of the Afghan government to take on powerful warlords who control much of the country and are widely believed to fund their private armies with drug money. guardian.co.uk lurqer