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