Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Is Afghanistan's Kam-Air Involved In Drug Smuggling?


Afghan Corruption, Opium, And The Strange Case Of Kam Air -- Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor

Kam Air, an airline owned by a politically-connected Afghan businessman, was blacklisted by the US military in Afghanistan for opium smuggling. Then the Afghan government complained.

In late January, the US military blacklisted Afghanistan's Kam Air from winning contracts with the US in Afghanistan, with the head of a US military anticorruption unit asserting that the airline was involved in bulk opium smuggling on commercial flights to Tajikistan.

The decision touched off a flurry of backroom lobbying, given the political connections of Kam Air's owner and the shadow it cast over efforts to merge the private airline carrier with the struggling Afghan government-owned airline Ariana.

The result? A few weeks later, the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) issued a terse statement announcing that Kam Air would be removed from the blacklist pending the results of an Afghan government investigation into the drug smuggling charges.

Read more
....

More News On Afghanistan's Kam Air

US military suspends ban on Afghan airline after blacklisting caused diplomatic turbulence -- Washington Post/AP
U.S. Military Suspends Ban on Afghan Airline
-- New York Times
U.S. Suspends Afghan Airline Ban -- Radio Free Europe
Kam air row: US suspends ban on Afghan airline -- BBC
US suspends Kam Air ban as Afghanistan probes opium claim -- Global Post/AFP

No comments: