Security and Defense Studies Review - Offnews.info

Book Review: Seeds of Terror, How Heroin is Bankrollingthe Taliban and Al QaedaBy Gretchen PetersReviewed by John C. ThompsonCHDS Dean of Students and AdministrationIn Seeds of Terror, author Gretchen Peters explores the war in Afghanistan, arguably one of the mostcomplex challenges America has ever faced. Her work is both spellbinding and disturbing. She doesnot pull any punches, but unlike most observers of that conflict, she offers a series of thoughtfulsuggestions as to how we might best move forward towards a lasting solution.For openers, Ms. Peters asserts that for the U.S. and its allies to be successful in Afghanistan itis essential that they cut off the Taliban and al Qaeda from the almost inexhaustible supply of drugmoney that is bankrolling them. She knows her subject well, as she is an experienced reporterwho has amassed a wealth of knowledge and insights during her work for more than a decade as ajournalist in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She understands the region, its history and the culture of itspeoples. Her extensive network of sources includes journalists, diplomats, scholars, governmentofficials and spies. More than thirty pages of end notes provide extensive documentation of manyfascinating details that enrich this well-written book.Seeds of Terror reflects its author’s determination and her passion. She explains somewhatguiltily that as early as 1998 she ignored the pleas of a U.S. embassy official in Islamabad, Pakistanwho begged her to report on the terrorist camps inside Afghanistan. She explains that she, like mostof her fellow reporters at the time, were more interested in covering the Taliban’s repression ofwomen, public executions, refugee camps and other such stories that were much more likely to bepublished. After the 9/11 attacks she returned to Afghanistan and soon thereafter began learning ofthe extensive connection of the Taliban with the drug trade. She became convinced that Osama binLaden used drug smuggling to help finance his terror campaign as well (p. 15).Peters flatly rejects the notion that al Qaeda and the Taliban ever steered clear of the drug tradeon religious grounds. Whereas individual followers or their leaders may personally object to druguse, Peters provides substantial evidence that through various drug trafficking activities—includingdirecting the work of poppy farmers, taxing, as well as protecting and transporting shipments ofheroin and its derivatives—the Taliban have been generating in excess of $400 million per year forthe past several years (p. 14). In much the same way that the Revolution Armed Forces of Colombia(FARC) became the drug army for narcotics cartels in Colombia and make hundreds of millionsof dollars each year in the process, the tremendous fortunes available from this illicit trade havereplaced ideology for most Taliban fighters.Peters makes it clear that no single description fits all Taliban soldiers and no single leader orcouncil represents their will. She also makes it clear that the business of many Taliban leaders is bigbusiness. She traces the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars through the international businesscommunity to include the Karachi Stock Exchange and the Dubai building boom, where, “With justa thousand real estate transactions you can recycle $800 million.” To be clear, in Afghanistan, weare not at war with a few thousand poor religious zealots who live in caves and dream of keepingwomen out of school. Our real enemies are clever, well-educated and highly sophisticated membersof international criminal organizations who use drug profits to arm and equip terrorists so they canfight us while keeping the flow of drugs to the world’s illegal drug consumers flowing.Security and Defense Studies Review 2009/Edición 2009/ Edicão 2009/ Volume 9, Issues 1 & 2 133