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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/01/two-us-employees-killed-in-pakistan-drug-busting-operation
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| Two US employees killed in Pakistan drug-busting operation | Two US employees killed in Pakistan drug-busting operation |
| (6 months later) | |
| Two Pakistanis working on a US government counter-narcotics programme in the restless border region near Afghanistan have been killed by roadside bomb, John Kerry announced on Tuesday.Speaking to an audience in Washington, the US secretary of state also said “a few” of the Pakistani soldiers accompanying the men on an “effort to eradicate poppy fields” were also killed, although an army spokesman was not available to confirm the claim. | Two Pakistanis working on a US government counter-narcotics programme in the restless border region near Afghanistan have been killed by roadside bomb, John Kerry announced on Tuesday.Speaking to an audience in Washington, the US secretary of state also said “a few” of the Pakistani soldiers accompanying the men on an “effort to eradicate poppy fields” were also killed, although an army spokesman was not available to confirm the claim. |
| The unidentified men were local employees at the US consulate in the western city of Peshawar and were working on a programme that attempts to persuade opium farmers to grow alternative crops. | The unidentified men were local employees at the US consulate in the western city of Peshawar and were working on a programme that attempts to persuade opium farmers to grow alternative crops. |
| Naveed Khan, a Pakistani official, told the Associated Press that one of the men killed was an inspector working on the project and the other was employed as a driver.Pakistan’s opium production is dwarfed by neighbouring Afghanistan, which cultivated 183,000 hectares in 2015, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).By contrast, Pakistan produces an estimated 1,000 hectares, mostly concentrated in a tribal region where the state’s authority has been severely challenged by militant groups.However, the country is a major centre for the processing of raw Afghan opium, with the UNODC estimating Pakistan is the destination and transit country for approximately 40% of opiates from its neighbour. | Naveed Khan, a Pakistani official, told the Associated Press that one of the men killed was an inspector working on the project and the other was employed as a driver.Pakistan’s opium production is dwarfed by neighbouring Afghanistan, which cultivated 183,000 hectares in 2015, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).By contrast, Pakistan produces an estimated 1,000 hectares, mostly concentrated in a tribal region where the state’s authority has been severely challenged by militant groups.However, the country is a major centre for the processing of raw Afghan opium, with the UNODC estimating Pakistan is the destination and transit country for approximately 40% of opiates from its neighbour. |