Pubdate: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Section: International U.S. FAULTS 3 NATIONS ON ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 — President Bush has determined that Afghanistan, Haiti and Myanmar "failed demonstrably" in the fight against drugs over the last year, officials said today. But Mr. Bush decided not to impose penalties on Afghanistan, where 4,000 American troops are stationed, or Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. He said it was in the vital interest of the United States to support those nations. Myanmar remained ineligible for most forms of United States aid. The findings are the first under a new procedure that allows the administration to deliver an annual report card on only those countries it says are the most egregious cases of noncooperation. For years, nations like Mexico and Colombia objected to the annual process known as certification, which they viewed as humiliating and one-sided. Before the change, the State Department provided detailed assessments of about two dozen countries linked to drugs. During a visit to Washington last year, President Vicente Fox of Mexico made a plea for lawmakers to abandon the certification review. Rand Beers, the State Department's top anti-narcotics official, said the United States was studying ways to persuade opium farmers in Afghanistan to plow under their crops. The United States is already blocking more than $200 million in loans to Haiti to prod President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to reach an accommodation with his political foes. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart