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WASHINGTON: The United States has reportedly made a list of 50 Afghan drug-traffickers with links to the Taliban to be either captured or killed–in another major shift in American counter-narcotics policy in Afghanistan, a report in a major U.S. daily said Monday.
Quoting from interviews with two U.S. generals in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report to be released this week, the daily said the policy was aimed at disrupting the flow of drug money to finance Taliban operations.
The general officers said major traffickers with proven links to the insurgency were put on the “joint integrated prioritized target list”–that assigned drug-traffickers the same target status as insurgent leaders, and could be either captured or killed any time.
The military commanders have told Congress that they are convinced that the policy is legal under the military’s rules of engagement and international law.
They are reported to have told Senate staff members that before a trafficker was placed on the list, two credible sources and substantial additional evidence are required, and only those providing support to the insurgency will be targeted.
“We have a list of 367 ‘kill-or-capture’ targets, including 50 nexus targets who link drugs and the insurgency,” a general reportedly told the committee staff.
However, the policy of killing individuals who are not traditional military combatants is being questioned by NATO allies, and may raise hackles among Washington’s European allies.
Earlier, it was reported that the Obama administration’s policy shift from destroying opium poppy crops to increased funding for agricultural development was the “most well-received change of American policy” in the region.