Labor plan for AFP opium unit
September 02, 2007 11:13am
UP to 12 Australian Federal Police officers could be sent to Afghanistan under a Labor government plan to crack down on the country's opium trade.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland today pointed the finger at Afghanistan's $3.2 billion a year opium trade as a major source of funding for the Taliban and global terror network al-Qaeda.
"We regard the narcotics coming out of Afghanistan ... as a massive resource for international terrorism and we're determined to get to the heart of that,'' he said.
"A Rudd Labor government will commit a team of Australian Federal Police officers to assist the counter-narcotics effort in Afghanistan.''
The Howard Government had indicated it was prepared to commit only two Australian police officers despite a request 18 months ago, he said.
The AFP team proposed by Labor would consist of at least eight officers.
"To make a difference we'd need in the order of eight to a dozen police officers,'' Mr McClelland said.
"We believe that would actually make a difference.''
A Rudd government would also look at providing agricultural experts to help Afghanistan's farmers move from opium into other areas of production.
The danger was that impoverished farmers prevented from growing opium would turn to the Taliban or al-Qaeda if they could not make a living from the land, Mr McClelland said.
