Pubdate: Wed, 31 Mar 2004
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2004 BBC
Contact:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

KABUL 'NEEDS AID IN WAR ON DRUGS'

President Hamid Karzai has called for more international help to fight drug 
production in Afghanistan.

Speaking at a major aid conference in Berlin, he said drugs were 
undermining the "very existence" of his country.

Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of poppy-derived opium, which 
is used to make heroin.

The two-day Berlin conference, attended by officials from 50 countries, is 
considering fresh aid to Kabul - which is seeking $27.5bn over seven years.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the host, urged the world to "stress 
its commitment to a secure, free and democratic Afghanistan".

The UN has warned Afghanistan is in danger of becoming entirely dependent 
on the illegal drugs trade and reverting to chaos unless it receives 
sufficient foreign aid.

Mr Karzai urged the world community to help destroy opium plantations and 
find alternative crops for farmers.

He said the problem was "too huge" for his country to face alone.

"Afghanistan's agriculture, Afghanistan's economy, Afghanistan's way of 
life, Afghanistan's tradition and culture is being threatened by drugs," he 
said at the conference.

One of the world's poorest countries, Afghanistan remains a security 
concern for Western countries, two years after US-led forced ousted the 
Taleban.

Much of the country is controlled by warlords and drug production - 
estimated at $2.3bn in 2003 by the United Nations-is rising.

The BBC's Andrew North says that an opium farmer may be earning 10 times as 
much as the government soldier or policeman whose job it is to enforce the 
law against growing the crop.

'Modest demands'

The Berlin conference follows a first donor conference held in Japan in 
2002 and will consider a report submitted by the Afghan government and 
institutions like the World Bank.

The World Bank's country director for Afghanistan, Alastair McKechnie, has 
defended the amount of development aid being sought by Kabul.

He put the total cost of two decades of war at about $240bn.

PLEDGES TO DATE

US: $1.2bn in 2004 with a further pledge of $1bn expected Japan: $400m over 
two years EU: $297.5m in 2004 Germany: $390m over four years

Key test of nation-building Desperately poor economy

"The figure of $27.5bn may seem a lot but it will simply help Afghanistan 
get back on the track from which its people were brutally wrenched in the 
late seventies," he said.

Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani said that new investment would nurture 
the hope of peace whilst international neglect would spell "dire 
consequences" for both Afghanistan and the region.

"We are not asking for the Mercedes Benz (of development assistance 
programmes) - we are asking for a bicycle," Mr Ghani told delegates.

There have also been serious outbreaks of fighting in various parts of the 
country, with the central government controlling only the capital.

The Afghan government has been forced to delay presidential and 
parliamentary elections scheduled for June until September because of 
security concerns and problems with voter registration.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager