Afghanistan

Fresh violence as Kabul asks for narcotics control help

Article published on the 2009-04-28 Latest update 2009-04-28 13:21 TU

A woman sits in front of her home in Bamiyan province.
(Photo: Reuters)

Afghan police clashed with Taliban fighters outside Kabul Monday, leaving a dozen militants and one officer dead. In a separate incident, bomb blasts killed five other policemen. The violence came as the shaky Afghan government asked Germany to help in his country’s anti-narcotics efforts.

“We need more help. We need more support,” General Khodaidad, Afghanistan’s anti-narcotics minister, said Tuesday.

“Whether they are terrorists or people making money from drugs – it is all the same network. German soldiers and Nato troops must take this into consideration and not shirk the issue.”

Some 3,700 German soldiers are stationed in the more peaceful northern part of Afghanistan as part of the Nato-led Isaf force, but the fight against the drug trade is left to the Afghan forces and police.

British and American soldiers are in the more violence southern and eastern parts of the country, where they fight drug lords alongside Afghan forces.

Monday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was criticised by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week for being too close to the Taliban, announced that he would be seeking reelection in August’s presidential contest.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was in Kabul for a state visit when Karzai made the announcement, which could aggravate divisions between London and Washington.