The Times
Jerome Starkey in Kabul

A police colonel accused of running a drug smuggling network went on trial in Kabul yesterday in a landmark prosecution by Afghanistan’s new anti-corruption taskforce. Diplomats hope that it marks the beginning of a new era in the fight against government corruption.

Hidden behind blast walls, watchtowers and miles of razor wire, the 45-year-old police commander appeared in front of a panel of three judges, including a woman, at the country’s most heavily guarded court on the outskirts of the capital.

Manacled and despondent, the former police chief from Arghestan in Kandahar province shuffled into the dock with four young men wearing striped prison uniforms. They were charged with possessing 40 tonnes of cannabis and operating a sophisticated smuggling network along the border with Pakistan.

None of the judges, lawyers or court officials can be named to avoid possible reprisals. Afghanistan’s top counter narcotics lawyer, Alim Hanif, 65, was assassinated last year on his way to work. (Read more)