Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jan 2005
Source: Daily Times (Pakistan)
Copyright: 2005 Daily Times
Contact:  http://www.dailytimes.com.pk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2893
Author: Khalid Hasan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

NEW AFGHAN POPPY CROP WILL ENRICH WARLORDS BY $7 BILLION

WASHINGTON: If the current poppy crop in Afghanistan is allowed to be 
harvested, it will put an estimated $7 billion in the coffers of the 
country's warlords.

While a bumper poppy harvest is expected in Afghanistan in the new year, a 
debate has erupted within the Bush administration on whether the United 
States should push for the crop's destruction despite objections from the 
Karzai government, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday.

Some US officials advocate aerial spraying to reduce the crop, warning that 
if harvested, it could flood the West with heroin, fill the coffers of 
Taliban fighters and fund terrorist activity in Afghanistan and beyond. 
They estimate the haul could earn Afghan warlords up to $7 billion, up from 
a record $2.2 billion in 2004. With the January planting season 
approaching, the State Department is asking Congress to earmark nearly $780 
million in aid to Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, for a 
counter-narcotics effort that would include $152 million for aerial 
eradication.

The report notes that although President Hamid Karzai has declared a 
"jihad" against the drug trade, he is opposed to aerial spraying, a 
position with which certain American officials are in agreement as they 
fear that it would alienate rural voters whom they have so far expected to 
take part in the parliamentary elections due to take place in April.

"The dispute underscores a vexing dilemma for the United States. Having 
ousted the Taliban from power, the Bush administration now finds that its 
three main policy objectives in the strategically important country - 
counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics and political stability - appear to be 
contradictory. President Bush's cabinet has discussed the problem, sources 
said, and the US ambassador to Afghanistan met with Bush in December. But 
the White House has reportedly not made a final decision," says the newspaper.

Some diplomats and outside experts argue that aerial spraying of the crop 
would be folly as it would destroy the livelihood of a large number of 
Afghan farmers. There are fears that if the crop was destroyed, the Afghan 
economy could decline by as much as 40 percent in one year, leading to an 
armed revolt. Instead of trying to eradicate this year's poppy crop, the 
two governments, it is argued, should focus on providing alternative 
livelihoods for farmers, improving law enforcement and drug interdiction. 
Eradication should only be considered once the political climate is more 
stable, according to Mark L Schneider of the International Crisis Group.

Aerial spraying, Schneider warns, could provide the Taliban with a great 
recruiting opportunity. Other administration officials and lawmakers warn 
that allowing the Afghan economy to become dependent on narco-profits could 
be even more dangerous.

Robert B Charles, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics 
and law enforcement, has asserted that drug profits are "almost definitely" 
funding the Taliban - who once banned opium farming - and possibly Al Qaeda 
as well. According to him, the profits are also flowing to the 
Hezb-i-Islami faction led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The US government 
estimates that poppy cultivation exploded from 150,000 acres in 2003 to 
510,000 acres in 2004.

The United Nations has estimated that opium poppies are now grown in all 34 
Afghan provinces, up from 18 provinces in 1999 and just eight provinces in 1994.
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