Pubdate: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2007 Calgary Herald Contact: http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Sarah McGinnis Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/poppy (Poppy) POPPIES KEY TO TALIBAN DEFEAT Disable Rebels With Opium Crackdown: Military Boss Taliban forces are weakening, but the way to ultimately eradicate insurgents in Afghanistan is by robbing them of their chief source of income: drug money. That's the opinion of Maj-Gen. Tim Grant, former leader of Canada's military operations in the wartorn country. Afghanistan is the world's largest heroin producing country, growing at least 90 per cent of the world's opium poppy supply in 2006. Permanently dismantling Afghanistan's opium industry requires more than just destroying the poppies, Grant told the Herald on Thursday. "I think there needs to be some form of eradication, but that can't be the only thing we're doing. . . . We have to have something for the farmers that is an acceptable alternative to growing poppies," said Grant, who was in Calgary to attend the Military Museums awards banquet Thursday night. Grant led the Canadian Forces operations in Afghanistan from November of 2006 until last August. The Taliban are seen by the Afghan people as a brutal regime that is increasingly unable to recruit locals. Instead, they are drawing on foreign mercenaries to continue fighting. Cash -- mostly drug money -- is needed to fund these pay-for-hire soldiers. While most experts agree cutting the Taliban off of its cash crop would go a long way to creating lasting security in the region, how to do so is increasingly debated. There is no magic bullet to solving Afghanistan's poppy dependency, which represents between 80 and 90 per cent of their entire economy, said George Melnyk, co-chair of the consortium for peace studies at the University of Calgary. American and British anti-drug armed forces remain committed to destroying crops and debate the virtues of plowing through poppy fields or spraying chemicals from the air. "For the last five to six years, the per cent of opium being produced (in Afghanistan) for the world market has been increasing. . . ," said Melnyk. "They've had an eradication program for the last five years. It isn't working." A report prepared for the Calgary-based Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute in March calls for the formation of an international marketing board to buy opium crops to produce popular pharmaceuticals such as morphine, codeine and Oxycontin. But there are no systems in place to allow for the mass purchase of poppies, and Grant worries such a plan could increase the drug trade. Any permanent solution must give local farmers alternatives to poppies before planting season begins in January and address any obstacles to marketing a new crop, Grant said. At least then farmers have a choice. Those who decide to continue producing poppies know they risk authorities coming in and destroying their livelihood, he said. While the battle against poppies has just begun, Canada is winning the war in Afghanistan especially in the south, said the current commander of Canada's military in Kandahar, Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier. Because Afghan insurgents are losing ground, they likely will resort to increasing the number of roadside bombs and suicide attacks in an attempt to inflict more casualties on troops, he said. The state of the security situation in Afghanistan has been a hotly debated topic over the past several months. A recent United Nations report warned that security in Afghanistan has deteriorated. In early November, Taliban forces captured three districts in western Afghanistan. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom