Pubdate: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 Source: Watertown Daily Times (NY) Copyright: 2007 Watertown Daily Times Contact: http://www.wdt.net Author: Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/bush.htm (Bush, George) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/afghanistan Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/opium TEAM TARGRTING OPIUM CROP Taliban Heartland: Eradication Under Way In Afghanistan DOBUNDI, Afghanistan - Anguish creased the weathered face of the opium farmer as a U.S. trained eradication team swept through his farm fields in this southern Afghan village. With helicopters buzzing overhead, dozens of tractors plowed up Sadullah Khan's poppy plants, which in two months time would have yielded the sticky resin used to make heroin and earned him, by Afghan standards, a generous income. After failing to curb opium production last year, the Afghan government has launched a renewed eradication drive, particularly here in Helmand province which accounted for more than 40 percent of the 2006 record yield of 6,725 tons. The U.S. government estimates the opium trade generates $3 billion a year in illicit economic activity. There is some armed resistance to the campaign in Helmand, where drug gangs and Taliban militants form a powerful nexus against President Hamid Karzai's unpopular government. Still, counter-narcotics officials expect better results this year if not a resounding success. That's cold comfort to Khan, a 55-year old father of nine, who owns 25 acres of land planted with poppies. "When they are eradicating my poppy, it's just like they are destroying my home," he said, watching the heavily armed Afghan teams at work supported by a handful of U.S. contractors, who rode in pairs through the rolling poppy fields on all-terrain vehicles. There are fears the program could increase support for Taliban insurgents, but Karzai is under growing international pressure to crack down on Afghan drug production which accounts for more than 90 percent of global supply. Last week, President Bush called poppy cultivation a threat to Afghanistan's fragile democracy. Bush said he had told Karzai " to gain the confidence of his people, and the confidence of the world, he's got to do something about it, with our help." The year 2006 saw an alarming 59 percent rise in opium cultivation to 407,700 acres, deepening fears that Afghanistan is rapidly becoming a narco-state. A Western counter-narcotics official said it was to early for an accurate prediction of this year's crop, but he noted some positive signs. The government, he said has launched eradication "earlier and with more determination" than last year and has warned officials they would be fired if they didn't take action. Lt. Gen. Mohammed Daoud, the deputy interior minister for counter-narcotics, said 8,900 acres of poppy fields have been destroyed nationwide in the past month. The target is to destroy almost 14 times that figure - a total of 123,550 acres - before the harvest, which runs from April to July. There have been five attacks in the past two weeks against the eradication campaign, Daoud said. In the worst incident, a roadside bomb in Helmand's Nad Ali district killed two police officers and wounded three serving as guards for the eradication team. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin