President Karzai Signs the Counter Narcotics Tribunal Decree
Arg, Presidential Compound, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, signed a Decree to establish the Counter Narcotics Tribunal yesterday, 25 July 2005.
The Counter Narcotics Tribunal Decree was proposed by HE Chief Justice Shinwari of the Supreme Court of Afghanistan. The Decree establishes special tribunals to try cases related to narcotics. It supports Article 7 of the Constitution, which bans the cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics. The Decree came into force just after the President signed it.
On signing the Decree the President said: “this demonstrates the Government’s crucial proactive commitment to the fight against narcotics. It is a further step towards greater judicial reform”.
“This is a strong message to those involved in narcotics that the Government will crack down on the traffickers and all those that shame the name of the Afghan people” the President added.
For further information, please contact:
Khaleeq Ahmad, Tel. 00 93 70 286 853
Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
PRESS RELEASE: 27th July 2005
BRITISH TEAM STARTS TRAINING A FURTHER 400 AFGHAN COUNTER NARCOTICS POLICE OFFICERS TO COMBAT DRUGS TRAFFICKING
Kabul, Wednesday, 27th July 2005: The British Ambassador to Afghanistan, Dr Rosalind Marsden, is today (Wednesday) handing over five vehicles from the UK Government to the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA) at a ceremony at the CNPA headquarters at Karte Seh in south-west Kabul. It is part of a British programme being launched to equip and train the CNPA to combat drugs trafficking in the country.
Attending the event will be the Afghan Minister for Counter Narcotics, Habibullah Qaderi, the Deputy Ministers for Counter Narcotics, General Khodaidad and Baki Khogiani, the Deputy Interior Minister, General Mohammad Daud, and the head of the CNPA, General Sadaat.
At the ceremony, there will be a demonstration by dogs being trained for drug detection and also a demonstration by a CNPA Mobile Detection Team of specialist search equipment and a purpose-built vehicle.
The five vehicles being donated today are part of a consignment of over forty vehicles due to be handed over during an eighteen month British training programme for the CNPA that started last month. Ten mobile detection teams are being equipped and trained, three of them for Kabul and the others for provinces such as Kandahar, Nangarhar and Badakhshan.
According to Dr Marsden, “This training project shows the UK’s commitment to the long term development of CNPA and other counter narcotics institutions of the Afghan Government.”
Over the next 18 months, nearly 400 Counter Narcotics Police will be given legal and operational training by the UK, as well as practical training while subsequently carrying out their work.
Along with the Afghan Special Narcotics Force (ASNF), the CNPA has been making steady progress against traffickers and heroin producers.
While not condoning the trafficking of opium, destined to become heroin on the streets of the world, I’d say this could potentially cause a significant humanitarian crisis, enforcing these laws before the farmers have a viable alternative, either in the form of non-perishable crops, or a decent road infrastructure so that they can get perishable crops to market in a timely fashion.
Not certain that the heroin junkies of the world need to start panicking just yet!
– Lee.