US sees drug nexus between Afghanistan, Persian Gulf states

Islamabad, Nov 28, IRNA -- Alleging that some countries of the Persian

Gulf were laundering drug-related money, a US diplomat based in      

Islamabad said: "Apparently, there is a nexus between Afghanistan and

the (Persian) Gulf states."                                          

    The Pakistani English language daily, "The Nation" quoted a US   

diplomat in the Pakistani capital as telling a group of journalists  

that Afghanistan was producing 72 per cent of world's opium.         

    "It is not possible that the ruling Taliban are not aware of poppy

cultivation and production of opium to the extent of 72 per cent of  

the total production in the world," the diplomat, whose name the paper

avoided to mention, said.                                            

   "There is a big number of heroin producing laboratories in Helmand,

Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces (of Afghanistan)," he added.