Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran to Fight Cross-Border Opium Trade

May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran agreed to strengthen border cooperation to fight the drugs trade that is funding the Taliban insurgency and destabilizing the region, the United Nations said.

Ministers meeting in the Iranian capital, Tehran, yesterday agreed to set up three ``border liaison offices'' to plan and carry out joint operations against traffickers, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said in a statement.

The nations discussed how to stop free trade agreements being ``exploited by smugglers of guns, chemicals and weapons,'' said Antonio Maria Costa, head of UNODC.

Afghanistan provides more than 90 percent of the world's supply of opium, the raw ingredient for heroin, and the illicit drugs trade helps fund the Taliban insurgency, according to the UN. Revenue from the sale of illegal drugs is being used to finance terrorist training bases across the border in Pakistan, buy weapons and explosives for suicide bombings, and import the chemicals needed for drug refining, the world body says.

The governments in Kabul, Islamabad and Tehran agreed last year to hold regular meetings and pledged to share intelligence on smuggling routes, bolster frontier security and hold joint counter-narcotics operations.

Officials will meet again in Kabul in June to discuss how to improve communications between drug enforcement agencies, according to the statement.

The Taliban regime, which enforced Islamic law on Afghanistan until it was ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001, banned opium production in the country.

The drugs trade is now a ``massive source of revenue'' for the insurgents who tax farmers at 10 percent, Costa said in February, adding the Taliban will generate at least $100 million from this year's opium crop.

Afghanistan shares a 2,430-kilometer (1,510-mile) border with Pakistan and a 936-kilometer frontier with Iran.