Pubdate: Wed, 06 Sep 2006
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2006 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

AFGHANISTAN'S POPPY PERIL

A Different Tyranny

If Afghanistan had a national motto, it could be:  Democracy is dicey
and poppies proliferate.

Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, there was a clearly  appropriate
military response to the terrorist attacks  of Sept. 11, 2001: the
October 2001 invasion of  Afghanistan. The link to 9/11 was definite
and direct.

The attacks were the work of Osama bin Laden's  terrorist network,
al-Qaeda, which was based in  Afghanistan. There, the ruling Taliban
was an eager  supporter of bin Laden.

But nearly five years after that war and two years  after Hamid Karzai
was chosen Afghanistan's president  in a landmark election, the
country remains unstable.  The Taliban is returning to power in the
south, and  opium cultivation is booming.

Really booming.

Afghanistan's 2006 harvest of opium poppies will be  record-setting.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and  Crime recently estimated that
this year's harvest will  produce 6,100 metric tons of opium. That's
92 percent  of the world supply of opium, which can be converted  into
heroin.

The United States gets most of its opium from Colombia  and Mexico.
But some of Afghanistan's opium does enter  the U.S. drug market. That
should bring a frown to  President Bush's face.

He should be frowning, too, because Afghanistan has  become a
narco-state. The opium trade has corrupted  public officials
nationwide and made economic  development far harder to achieve.

That's not just a shame; it could signal a failed U.S.  effort in
Afghanistan. Poppy profits are putting  weapons in our enemies' hands.
The resulting  instability makes it harder to stem opium cultivation
by offering an economic alternative to poppy farmers.

It will be hard to beat opium's appeal. Poppy farmers  can earn as
much as 10 times more per hectare than  cereal farmers in a
desperately poor country that still  does not provide basic services.

Five years ago, Afghanistan needed the United States to  follow up its
military win with an aggressive plan for  rebuilding the country. That
didn't happen. Now it  needs a miracle.
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MAP posted-by: Derek