$10 million is smuggled out of Afghanistan daily, official says

[pinto]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - An estimated $10 million a day is smuggled out of Afghanistan, most of it through Kabul's international airport, rather than through secret routes over the mountains or across the desert, the country's finance minister said Sunday.

The amount of corruption, both by public officials and officials of private companies, makes him embarrassed to acknowledge while traveling that he is an Afghan, Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal said.

"Corruption is a stronger threat than terrorism for Afghanistan," said Zakhilwal, who was appointed in February and is the top financial advisor to President Hamid Karzai. "It is a cancer, a disease. It has destroyed the reputation of Afghanistan."

The $10-million figure comes from a 19-day undercover study conducted by the U.S. that estimated $190 million left the airport undetected during that period, Zakhilwal and U.S. officials said. No similar study was done for the international airport in Kandahar.




Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghanistan-cash7-2009dec07,0,6226073.story

[unhappycamper]

1. And we are in Afghanistan . . .

why? :shrug:

[Fly by night]

7. To make the world safe for opium poppies, transnational oil pipelines, and money laundering.

I agree that this estimate seems low. Paltry, even, compared with the $20+ billion in US cash still unaccounted for in Iraq.

[reggie the dog]

9. you forgot the hash

Afghan hash is great and down in price big time and everywhere here in France....

[Ghost Dog]

10. Oh yeah?

We're still stuck with the usual Moroccan second third rate shit down (Spanish) here... (remembering the good old days)....

...I may find myself in the Languedoc again later this winter...

[reggie the dog]

11. You got shitty Moroccan in Spain???

Shit, here in Provence Alpes Cote D'Azur we have had clean blond Moroccan First rate get your eyes red in one hit, and sticky Afghan black 4 or 6 euros the gram at 10 grams for the past 8 months or so. I have not seen third rate hash in over a year......not to mention the outdoor harvest was great for the local growers this year....

[Ghost Dog]

12. (I'll have to make some enquiries, then)...

Oh, yes, the yellow pollen occasionally. And local-grown is fine.

I must be out of touch. :shrug: The Lebanese went off the market, I noticed, a good few years ago, maybe due to Sharia law.

[lonestarnot]

2. 19 days not long enough, 10 mil low.

[progressoid]

3. Correction: 10M smuggled through just ONE airport daily.

This doesn't include other airports, ground travel or electronic transfers.

Go Democracy go!!

[saigon68]

4. A Corrupt Thug Puppet Administration

A Criminal Racketeering Government.

"Change We Can Believe In"

[LiberalAndProud]

5. How do you count that which has gone undetected?

[Ghost Dog]

6. Smuggling is the real "oldest profession"

I reckon.

[reggie the dog]

8. heroin is big money

gotta fund those black ops, plus pay the average smugglers.....mmmm skag.....

[TexasObserver]

13. Recommend

[defendandprotect]

14. k i c k