Taleban burn tons of hashish, heroin

..........KABUL (March 8) : The Taleban authorities burned tons of hashish and hundreds of pounds of heroin in southern Kandahar on Tuesday in an attempt to curb a rampant drug trade in their war-battered country, a Taleban spokesman said.

..........The Taleban soldiers set fire to 355 kilograms of heroin and 2,000 kilograms of hashish, all of which were confiscated by the hard-line militia in recent months, said Muhammad Shakaib by telephone from Kandahar.

.........."All drugs are harmful and are forbidden in Islam," he said. "We will continue our crackdown against drugs."

..........Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium -- the raw material used to make heroin. Last year 4,600 tons of opium was produced in Afghanistan. Some of it was converted into heroin and some transported elsewhere to be converted.

..........In a UN-sponsored International Narcotics Control Board report released last month the Taleban was sharply criticised for taxing its poppy crop and the heroin that is being manufactured.

..........The Taleban army said all agricultural products are taxed in keeping with Islamic traditions, but that no tax is charged on heroin.

..........Tuesday's drug burning was the second in the last one month.

..........In February, the Taleban burned 3,750 kilograms of hashish, 50 kilograms of heroin also in Kandahar, the headquarters of the Taleban movement.--APP