Pubdate: Fri, 02 Apr 2004
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2004 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.sunspot.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Sonni Efron, The Los Angeles Times
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

OPIUM POPPY HARVEST SOARING IN AFGHANISTAN

U.S. Says Cutting Drug Flow Is Central To Fighting Terror

WASHINGTON - Afghanistan's opium poppy cultivation has soared, and this 
year's harvest could be twice as large as last year's near-record crop 
unless eradication efforts are stepped-up immediately, a State Department 
official said yesterday.

The heroin business is "almost definitely" filling the coffers of the 
Taliban and Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin, another Afghan extremist group linked 
to Osama bin Laden, and "possibly" enriching al-Qaida fighters as well, 
said Robert L. Charles, assistant secretary of state for international 
narcotics and law enforcement affairs.

In rare but carefully muted criticism of America's top ally, Charles said 
British authorities had not done enough to eradicate poppies in their 
sector in southern Afghanistan. He warned that failure to stop the bumper 
harvest, which has already begun in some areas because of unusually warm 
weather, would have devastating consequences not only for the global drug 
trade but also for Afghan democracy.

"This is crunch time in Afghanistan," Charles told a congressional panel. 
"The first crop is coming very rapidly. ... We will pay a price later if we 
don't act right now."

The Defense Department must also do more to crack down on drug production 
in Afghanistan, said Rep. Mark E. Souder, an Indiana Republican and 
chairman of the Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources 
Subcommittee. .

"The American people aren't pouring billions of dollars into Afghanistan to 
watch it turn into a heroin poppy nation ... and an undemocratic narco 
terrorist-controlled state," Souder said.

Ninety percent of the heroin on European streets comes from Afghan poppies, 
while only 7 percent to 10 percent of the heroin in the United States is 
believed to originate there.

Charles said cutting the opium flow is central to fighting terrorism and 
preventing drug traffickers from undermining the fledgling Afghan democracy.

The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom