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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom