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Posted by johnmalloy333(at)gmail.com | Monday, July 23, 2007


Bert Tatham’s Story

Bert’s job in Afghanistan was managing a team of Afghans to work on the ground with farmers, government officials, NATO forces, and aid agencies to try and bring drug production under control in a country that produces over 90% of the world’s heroin. He lived and worked in Kandahar, in the middle of a war zone, as an official with the Ministry of Counter Narcotics. Over the course of the 13.5 months that he was there, 44 of our country’s soldiers died in Kandahar, along with hundreds of Afghans including several with whom Bert worked directly. Bert himself narrowly avoided being killed several times by suicide bombers, including one whose remains rained down on his office after detonating short of his target. Despite these challenges, his team helped reduce the heroin yield by 18% in Kandahar during the first year, and similar results are anticipated this year. Bert credits this achievement to the Afghan members of his team, who risked death by both working in counter-narcotics and by working with Westerners.

Another hazardous aspect to Bert’s work was a nearly constant exposure to drugs. Hashish, which is a refine form of marijuana, is sadly a deep part of Afghan culture in the region where he worked. It was not unusual in the course of his day to be offered this substance, even by police and government officials. In fact, he often had to accept these “gifts” and dispose of them discretely after finishing meetings. Another occupational hazard encountered while working in Kandahar was actually consuming hashish without knowing it, in food where it was used in its preparation. One such example was an incident in which Bert was offered yogurt at a lunch a few weeks before leaving the country which was later found to have contained a large amount of hashish.

After a year of service in Afghanistan, Bert began his journey home. While on a 2-day stop over in Dubai, his bags were searched and customs found two poppies that Bert was bringing back as artifacts representative of his efforts in Afghanistan. This find triggered an extensive search of his belongings that revealed a trace amount of hashish melted into the seams of his trouser pockets. Although the poppies were 2 years old and contained no usable amount of opium, and the 0.6g could not be proven with out a doubt his, Bert was sentenced to 4 years in a Dubai prison. His only hope for release now, is that he be granted Amnesty by the Rulers of the Dubai.