Pubdate: Tue, 01 Feb 2005
Source: Financial Times (UK)
Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2005
Contact:  http://www.ft.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/154
Author: Victoria Burnett, in Kabul
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Afghanistan (Afghanistan)

CALL FOR NEW LINE ON AFGHAN OPIUM

Aid organizations called on the US administration yesterday to focus
its counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan on arresting drug
traffickers and creating economic alternatives for farmers rather than
eradicating opium poppies.

In a letter to Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, 31
non-governmental organisations with operations in Afghanistan said
eradication had "the potential to turn millions of Afghans against a
government which is struggling to extend its reach".

Destroying poppy crops could "devastate already poor families without
giving rural development projects sufficient time to provide
alternative sources of income", the letter said. Signatories included
Care International, Oxfam, the International Rescue Committee and
International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank.

The Afghan government has started destroying poppy crops in some areas
of the country and is gearing up for a big purge, assisted by the US
and the UK. Farmers grew poppies on 131,000 hectares last year, 64 per
cent more land than in 2003.

Antonio Costa, head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
said in an interview on Saturday that there were signs that
Afghanistan's opium poppy cultivation might drop this year for the
first time since the fall of the Taliban.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek