The Associated Press

Fri, Oct 10, 2008 (3:33 a.m.)

A spokesman says NATO defense ministers have agreed their troops can target drugs facilities financing the Afghan insurgency.

James Appathurai told reporters Friday that NATO troops in Afghanistan would act with Afghan authorities to move against "facilities and facilitators" who use drugs to raise funds for the Taliban.

The United States has been trying to persuade allies to strike back by hitting the narcotics trading networks and laboratories where opium produced by poor Afghan farmers is transformed into heroin for the world market.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) _ NATO defense ministers worked Friday toward an agreement that would authorize their troops in Afghanistan to attack the heroin trade, which is believed to pump millions of dollars a year into the coffers of a resurgent Taliban.

The United States has been trying to persuade allies to strike back by hitting the narcotics trading networks and laboratories where opium produced by poor Afghan farmers is transformed into heroin for the world market.

Diplomats at a NATO meeting in Hungary said Friday that there were signs Germany, Spain and other allies who had been reluctant to give NATO troops the counter-narcotics mission, were coming round to acceptance of the plan following a direct appeal from the Afghan defense minister. They spoke anonymously as the talks were still under way.

"We've asked NATO to please support us, support our effort in destroying the labs and also the interdiction of the drugs and the chemical precursors that are coming from outside the country for making heroin," Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters after meeting his NATO counterparts Thursday.

The U.N. estimates the drugs trade provides up to US$100 million (euro73 million) a year to Taliban fighters whose resurgence in recent months has raised doubts about whether Western forces can win the war.

Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world's heroin, a trade worth billions of dollars.

Until now, responsibility for dealing with the problem has lain with the Afghan police, but NATO commanders believe the fledgling force cannot cope. They say the time has come for the 50,000 strong alliance force to move against the drugs barons.

Most allies agree, but some are concerned that a counter-narcotics campaign could spark a backlash against their troops, even if, as NATO commanders insist, the campaign will not target farmers who depend on growing opium poppies for a living.

They also fear that widening the mission could overstretch the hard-pressed troops and undermine NATO's long-term goal of handing more responsibility to Afghan forces.

Germany's defense minister, however, hinted they could change their position following Wardak's appeal.

"If this remains under Afghan leadership, it is in our own interest to support this activity," Franz Josef Jung, told reporters.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Thursday that he was optimistic the 26 allies will agree.

"I hope that tomorrow morning ministers will be able to come to some form of a conclusion," he said. "Our guys are killed by the weapons bought by the Taliban, financed by drugs money."

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said one option on the table was to allow some nations who are opposed to the plan to "opt out" without blocking others from participating. NATO officials explained that it could, for example, allow U.S. planes to bomb drug labs in northern Afghanistan without involving the German troops based there.

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Associated Press Writers Barbara Schaeder, Pablo Gorondi and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this story