Excuse me? Something smells really bad about this:
The DEA wants the military to take a larger role in stopping the drug trade, which experts say finances the insurgency.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Pentagon, engaged in a difficult fight to defeat a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, has resisted entreaties from U.S. anti-narcotics officials to play an aggressive role in the faltering campaign to curb the country's opium trade.
Military units in Afghanistan largely overlook drug bazaars, rebuff some requests to take U.S. drug agents on raids and do little to counter the organized crime syndicates shipping the drug to Europe, Asia and, increasingly, the United States, according to officials and documents...
...Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said that Afghanistan's flourishing opium trade is a law enforcement problem, not a military one. It would be "mission creep" if the 21,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan were to turn their attention to opium, and it would also set a precedent for future combat operations, military officials say.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Afghanistan's police forces and British troops in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization peacekeeping operation have the primary responsibility for fighting the Afghan drug problem.
Military officials also fear that cracking down on opium traffickers could alienate the Afghan people and warlords who profit from the trade. An estimated one-eighth of the population is involved in poppy cultivation, and the opium trade is one-third of the country's economy.
Oh, please. This just stinks...