NATO Wednesday rejected Russian calls for it to eradicate opium poppy fields in Afghanistan, saying the best way for Moscow to help control the drug would be to give more assistance against the insurgency. *** Hayden’s Note Attached ***

The contractors, according to a fellow Marine in Afghanistan who communicated with an investigative reporter in Chicago, were Afghanis who were found with “copious amounts of opium” and had been paid by the United States as guards.

Afghan and US forces gearing up for a major offensive in Helmand province, near Marjah dropped leaflets warning people not to give shelter to the Taliban. Marjah is surrounded by fertile land where poppies grow easily, and the Afghan government’s limited presence allows the drug trade to flourish. The production of opium helps finance the Taliban. ** Hayden’s Note: The problem is, we aren’t eradicating the poppy fields. We are seizing them and have become the largest drug cartel in the world!

The Nato Secretary General has said the London Conference on Afghanistan will be used to raise millions of pounds to pay off the Taliban leadership. NATO said it was necessary to “establish a trust to finance the reintegration programme” that would persuade the militants to lay down their weapons. The proposals will require huge amounts of money to pay for new jobs, pensions, land and even fund the relocation of senior militants abroad. [Am I really hearing this? Hayden's Note attached**]

The Afghan minister of counter narcotics says foreign troops are earning money from drug production in Afghanistan. He went on to say that NATO forces are taxing the production of opium in the regions under their control. Meanwhile, The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Ahmad Wali Karzai, a brother of the Afghan president, is involved in the opium trade, meets with Taliban leaders, and is also a CIA operative.