Afghan Judges Fast-Tracked for Drugs Crackdown
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=322643Reuters
Dec. 12, 2004 - A team of Afghan judges, prosecutors and investigators
began training on Sunday as part of a drive to accelerate a crackdown
on Afghanistan's booming drug trade.
President Hamid Karzai has vowed to wage war on a narcotics trade that
earned about $2.8 billion this year, an amount equivalent to 60
percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product.
Some 85 individuals, including 15 judges, have been chosen as members
of a task force to be trained by the Italian Institute of Higher
Studies in Criminal Sciences in order to prepare them for speeding
narcotics cases through Afghan courts.
"One fault in our system was that we didn't have a system. Now we have
a system," Deputy Interior Minister General Mohammad Daud told
reporters on the sidelines of a news conference held by the government
and the British embassy.
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