Afghanistan

This is an interesting way to stop poppy growing. I have met Atta. He is a legitimized warlord in a suit. When you sit in his reception area it is full of gorillas in suits. When the article refers to farmers having been visited by soldiers, I would not like to have been a farmer. Pot is drug of choice in Afghanistan Pasadena Star-News, CA By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi Article Launched: 09/18/2007 THERE'S good news in Afghanistan's battle against the cultivation of illegal drugs. In June, the Afghan government declared that the northern province of Balkh had stopped growing opium poppies. Unfortunately, there is also bad news. Local farmers have replaced their poppy crop with marijuana plants. Local authorities say production is growing at an alarming rate. "The government has banned he opium poppy," said Nazar Gul, 54, a farmer in the Charbolak district of the province. "Now we have started to plant marijuana, which is also good for us." Gul said he had little choice but to make the switch. "I planted poppy last year, but soldiers came to our house to warn us that if we grew it, they'd destroy our homes," he said. "What could we do?" But he couldn't earn nearly enough to support his family by switching to a legal alternative, such as wheat, he said. "The best way out was to switch to marijuana, and I hope to make good money this year, too," he said. Gul offered this comparison between the two crops: "For us farmers, poppy is gold and marijuana is silver." The province is famed for its high-quality hashish - known as "Balkhshirak." Atta Mohammad Noor, the provincial governor, admits that the cultivation of marijuana is on the rise in Balkh. "People did not plant poppy this year, but it seems marijuana has taken its place," he said. As yet, there are no reliable estimates on the number of acres of marijuana under cultivation. The governor is already complaining, however, that he lacks the resources to combat what he sees as a growing problem. "Our counter-narcotics department has plans in hand for eradicating marijuana in the province, but who is going to pay for it?" he said. Noor is still upset at what he sees as the lack of support for his poppy eradication effort. "We cleared 128 square kilometers of opium poppy last year," he said. "Every year, the international community announces that it is spending millions of dollars on counter-narcotics, but we haven't seen a dime of that money." Meanwhile, marijuana plants can be seen sprouting up everywhere in the province. Mohammad Muhsan, another farmer in Charbolak district, explains that the harvested marijuana is divided into two grades: high-quality shirak and lower-quality khaka, or dust. "Each pound of shirak is worth about $20, while a pound of khaka goes for $10," he said. That's only about 20 percent of what he earned while growing poppies. Still, Muhsan said marijuana is the best alternative available. "Marijuana is a very good crop," he said. "We get five times more money from it than from wheat." Other farmers note that while they may earn less growing marijuana than they did with poppies, it's also an easier crop to maintain. "We used to have to spend half of what we made just to produce the opium," said Ahmad Shah, another farmer in Chamtal district. "We had to weed the fields and we also had to spend a lot on harvesting. With marijuana, you just plant it, water it a little and then harvest it like wheat. It does not take so much work or money." A drug trafficker in the Charbolak district, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said smuggling hashish out of the area was relatively easy. "I purchase several sacks of hashish from farmers up here and then send it to the south to sell to major traffickers," he said. "Hashish is mostly smuggled to Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan, and from these countries it is sent to Europe and other parts of the world." He added, proudly, "Balkh shirak hashish is very famous around the globe." Of course, increased production has its down side as well. "The price of hashish seems to be falling day by day because cultivation of marijuana has increased," the trafficker said. Afghanistan's counter-narcotics ministry insists it will take as tough a stand on hashish as it did on opium. "We are committed to getting rid of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan," said ministry spokesman Zalmay Afzali. "We are planning on eradicating marijuana in the provinces." Then again, the country's previous efforts to stamp out illegal drugs have been spotty at best. For several years now, Afghanistan has been the world's largest supplier of opium, with the past year's harvest reaching a record high. www.iwpr.net Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is a journalist in Afghanistan who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization based in London that trains journalists in areas of conflict.

Opium production, addiction soar in Helmand Province IRIN 09/04/2007 HELMAND Nazar Mohammad was brought to Wadan Rehabilitation Centre (WRC) - a drug addiction treatment and counselling facility in southern Afghanistan - by his father three days ago. The 16-year-old is addicted to opium, which his father cultivates on their farm in southern Helmand Province. The teenager was first exposed to opium when his father asked him to lance poppies and collect raw opium in their fields in Baghran District. A friend encouraged Mohammad to swallow a small piece of opium and "enjoy". Days after the labour on their vast poppy fields, his father stored the opium in their house. While schools were closed Mohammad and his young friends in the impoverished village did not have other amusements, so started to consume opium. Stealing small amounts from his father's sizable opium harvest was always an easy task for him. "Months after I sold all our opium, I discovered that my son was addicted to it," said Mohammad's father, Haji Mohammad. Indications of growing addiction in Helmand Nobody knows for sure how many addicts are in Helmand, but local experts say there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of drug abusers seeking treatment. "Every week over 15 addicts come to our hospital for treatment," said Rawzatullah Zia, the head of WRC, adding that in 2006 that figure was much less. Provincial health officials estimate there are 65,000-70,000 drug abusers in Helmand Province, most of them young men. Apart from the WRC, there is one other addiction treatment and rehabilitation centre in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, where staff are also overwhelmed by the growing demand for treatment. "We have 10 beds but we always accommodate over 15 addicts at a time," Rahmatullah Mohammadi, the head of Mohammadi private hospital, told IRIN on 3 September. "I think we need more hospitals to treat and rehabilitate addicts in Helmand Province," said Mohammadi. Production soars in Helmand Afghanistan, which produced 8,200 metric tones of opium in 2007, is the largest supplier of opiates and heroin in the world, the UN reported on 27 August. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Helmand alone produces about 50 percent of the country's total opium harvest. "Cultivation in Helmand Province more than tripled between 2002 and 2007, bringing the area under opium poppy cultivation in 2007 to nearly equal the area cultivated in Afghanistan in 2005 (104,000 hectares)," according to the UNODC 2007 survey on opium production in Afghanistan. Widespread availability of opium and other narcotics in the province has boosted vulnerability to addiction, experts say. "Opium is the biggest commodity and is widely available everywhere in Helmand Province," Jahanzeb Khan, a UNODC drug demand reduction specialist in Kabul, told IRIN. Thousands of young men and teenagers who work the poppy fields with no protection are particularly exposed to opium addiction. In remote villages where access to health services is limited, locals consume opium as a "pain-killer" due to ignorance about the harm it does, Afghan counter narcotics officials say. Insecurity restricting access Officials in Afghanistan's Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN) acknowledge there is increasing opium addiction in Helmand but say insecurity has restricted efforts to effectively tackle the problem. Insecurity has impeded public awareness campaigns about the harms of opium and the promotion of alternative livelihoods, said Zalmai Afzali, a spokesman of MCN. UN officials say the UN does not provide any assistance to help reduce drug addiction or demand in Helmand, but relies on UK counter-narcotics efforts in the province, said Jahanzeb Khan of UNODC. Afghan govt rules out aerial spraying of poppy fields KABUL, Sept 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News) The Afghan government, scorning international calls, has once again ruled out aerial spraying to destroy the poppy crop in a country accounting for more than 93 percent of the worlds total opium production. Afghanistan is supportive of a comprehensive solution to the problem of poppy cultivation, a presidential spokesman said while rejecting suggestions from several countries the illegal crop should be sprayed with chemicals to contain opium yield. Humayun Hamidzada, addressing a news conference here on Tuesday, claimed the global fraternity was split on the question of aerial spraying to eradicate poppy fields. It was not an effective remedy, he argued. Asked what he meant by a comprehensive solution, Hamidzada replied the Afghan government favoured alternative income sources for poppy farmers, construction of farm-to-market roads, strengthening of the counter-narcotics police force and prevention of drug smuggling at borders. On August 29, the United Nations said in a bleak annual report poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan had soared to new frightening highs this year. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) revealed much of the increase this year was concentrated in the embattled south - notably in the Helmand province. The area under opium cultivation jumped to 193,000 hectares in 2007 from 165,000 last year. Similarly, the total opium harvest is expected to go up by more than a third to 8,200 tonnes from 6,100 tonnes in 2006. But the presidential spokesman remarked The menace is not confined to Afghanistan alone; poppies are cultivated here but opium smuggling is an international phenomenon. We, therefore, should make joint efforts to find a workable solution to the crisis. The aerial spray that might wipe out poppies was also bound to harm other crops and growers health, contended the presidential spokesman, who promised the ministry concerned would soon unveil an elaborate programme for reining in the drug problem. For similar reasons, former counter-narcotics minister Eng. Habibullah Qadri too had rejected last year the option of spraying the poppy crop. At a meeting yesterday, the Karzai cabinet voiced strong aversion to spraying poppy fields while emphasising alternatives for farmers. About a recent hostage episode, Hamidzada disclosed South Korean embassy officials were set special conditions for negotiating with Taliban the release of their compatriots. He would not elaborate on the special terms, however. Pressed by Pajhwok Afghan News to explain the conditions set for the hostage talks, he said: The government allowed the parleys on humanitarian grounds. Taliban had kidnapped the Koreans for ransom, the official believed, saying their demand for the release of militants had been spurned. Asked about the governments stance on a Wolesi Jirga decision requiring heads of independent commissions and autonomous departments to seek trust votes from Parliament, the spokesman came up with this circumlocutory response: The Lower House has the right to debate laws and take decisions on them. But issues already addressed in the Constitution dont need to be discussed any more. Reported by Zubair Babakarkhel Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah

Link to UNOCD report http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/AFG07_ExSum_web.pdf Afghan VP Calls For Spraying Of Poppies The Associated Press 09/02/2007 After Record Crop, Afghan Leader Calls For Destruction Of Opium Poppies An Afghan vice president has called for aerial spraying to destroy opium poppies after the cultivation of the illicit crop reached a record high this year, accounting for over 90 percent of global supply, according to a report Sunday. Ahmad Zia Massoud, one of Afghanistan's vice presidents, said the international community's counternarcotics policy has failed in southern Afghanistan, where most of this year's crop was grown. Writing in a commentary in Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Massoud said poppies have spread like "cancer" in Helmand province, where British forces are based. "I have no doubt that the efforts of Britain and the international community in fighting the opium trade in Afghanistan are well-intentioned, and we are grateful for their support," he wrote. "But it is now clear that your policy in the south of our country has completely failed." Last week, the U.N. announced that the area of land used to cultivate opium had increased by 17 percent this year, with more than half of it in Helmand, a Taliban stronghold. The report forecast that Afghanistan would produce 9,000 tons of opium this year - about 93 percent of global supply. That is up 34 percent from 2006, and is enough to make more than 880 tons of heroin. The surge in production has stepped up pressure on President Hamid Karzai's government to consider new ways of to curb it - including aerial spraying, which it has previously opposed, saying that tactic would harm legitimate crops and water supplies, thus increasing rural support for the Taliban militia. Massoud said the booming opium trade is closely linked to insecurity that prevails in the south, where Taliban are waging a bloody campaign against foreign and Afghan security forces. He also said those growing the lucrative crop are not being punished. "The time has come for us to adopt a more forceful approach. We must switch from ground-based eradication to aerial spraying," Massoud said. He said that spraying is "safe," and that "farmers will no longer be able to bribe officials to protect their crop." "The opium directly supports those who are killing Afghan and international troops," Massoud said. "Failure to achieve a substantial reduction in the opium crop will be equivalent to supporting the Taliban." It was not immediately clear whether Massoud's comment reflected a change in government policy. Afghan and British counternarcotics officials were not available for comment Sunday. UK strategy on Afghan drugs under attack By Alex Barker Political Correspondent FT.com Published: September 3 2007 Britains faltering counter-narcotics strategy in Afghanistan came under renewed pressure on Sunday after a senior member of President Hamid Karzais government called for the aerial spraying of poppy fields. US officials have been pushing to introduce aerial spraying for some time but the move has been strongly resisted by Britain on the grounds it is counterproductive and against the wishes of the Afghan government. However, this case was partly undermined after Ahmed Zia Massoud, Afghan vice-president, broke ranks with Mr Karzai to call for a more forceful approach to tackle poppies that have spread like cancer. We must switch from ground based eradication to aerial spraying, he said. The split within Mr Karzais government mirrors the divide between the US and the UK over the best way to tackle poppy production, a business interwoven with the Taliban insurgency. The disagreement comes at a sensitive time for transatlantic relations, with the UK following a seemingly divergent path in Iraq from the US surge. Several ministers have visited Afghanistan recently to underscore the importance of what they consider to be a generational struggle. Yet, in spite of a big increase in troops and resources, poppy production has soared. A UN report last week said production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 per cent of the worlds opium, jumped by 34 per cent last year. Drug production is now closely linked to the insurgency, the report concluded, with the Taliban controlling vast swathes of land. Opium eradication efforts were inadequate and often corrupt, it said, meaning poor farmers suffered the brunt of eradication. Referring to British-led efforts to reduce poppy farming, Mr Massoud said: It is now clear that your policy in the south of our country has completely failed. Moving to aerial spraying was safer and less open to corruption, he added. Senior Foreign Office officials have dismissed such calls, saying it is difficult to envisage circumstances where the benefits of aerial eradication outweigh the disadvantages. Spraying is hard to target and merely prompts farmers to plant more poppies to cover debts, they argue. It also risks fuelling popular myths about foreign forces using chemicals. Britain advocates more arrests of traffickers and extra Nato support to Afghan eradication teams. On Sunday, Douglas Alexander, international development secretary, said Mr Karzai remained opposed to aerial spraying. We are determined to continue to work along with international partners and the Afghan government to meet this challenge, but it will take time. Mr Alexander, who recently met Mr Karzai in Afghanistan, added: Where you have law, governance and security it is possible to tackle poppy production. Where you dont, as in Helmand at the moment, you see an increase. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007 Afghans hurt themselves through tribalism blog.al.com/afghanistan Posted by Michael Tomberlin September 02, 2007 11:35 AM GHAZNI, AFGHANISTAN The Afghans call it "tribalism," as if it is somewhat noble in its purpose; as if it's akin to "patriotism" on a smaller scale. Certainly it sounds better than calling it what it really is: racism. For decades, the people of this once-great country banded together to drive out invaders only to revert back to infighting among the various groups, ethnicities, "tribes." There are many obstacles today's Afghanistan has to overcome to reach and surpass the modernity of its neighbors, to become an advanced society. Its biggest obstacle to progress, its biggest obstacle to stability, its biggest obstacle to peace is tribalism. Afghanistan has seen the enemy, and it is itself. Generally speaking, Pashtuns hate Tajiks and Tajiks return the sentiment. Both look down on the Hazaras, though Tajiks have historically formed alliances of convenience with Hazaras and Uzbeks to match the strength of the Pashtuns. The Uzbeks don't have enough numbers to impose any will on anyone alone. Pashtuns account for about 45 percent of Afghanistan's population. Among Pashtuns, half are of the Durrani tribe, and the other half is the Ghilzai tribe. Pashtuns think of themselves as being of Arab descent, and the majority of the Arab and Muslim world view Afghanistan as a Pashtun country. They speak their own language known as Pashtu. Tajiks are the next largest group with more than 25 percent of the population. They were the original inhabitants of what we know today as Afghanistan. They speak a Persian Farsi language known as Dari, which is the official language of Afghanistan. Hazaras hold 10 percent of the population. Their ancestry goes back to the days when Genghis Khan invaded and controlled the country. They are mostly a poor, agrarian people who occupy an area in central Afghanistan. Uzbeks make up less than 10 percent of Afghans with the rest made up of smaller tribes such as Turkmen, Baluchi, Kyrgyz, Qizilbash, Kazakhs, Aimaq, Wakhis, Sikhs, Nuristanis and others. It is unknown exactly why the Pashtuns (and to a lesser extent the Tajiks) look at Hazaras as second-class citizens. Some theorize it is retaliation for the brutality Genghis Khan showed the people of Afghanistan during his control of the country. Others believe the intermixing of Mongol blood with that of other tribes is the root of the racism. But the real reason Pashtuns and Tajiks look down on Hazaras may have its roots in religion. Pashtuns and Tajiks are primarily Sunni Muslims. In fact, both are predominantly of the same Hanafi sect of Sunni. Hazaras, on the other hand, are Shiite Muslims. But unlike other Muslim countries, the infighting in Afghanistan is rarely along religious lines such as we see in Iraq. The more critical factor seems to come down to tribe or race. It was the disunity of the country that created the environment for the Taliban to come into power. The racial scars were deepened during the rule of the Taliban, members of which were mostly Pashtun and Tajik. The Taliban devastated entire villages of Hazaras. There are heartbreaking stories of Taliban brutality of Hazaras that are recounted among the people here to this day. This fragmentation of Afghanistan prevents any sort of real unity from taking hold. Such nationalism will be vital for this young and some say fragile government. But if you ask many of the people today whether they are "Afghan" most Pashtuns will take on that label while Tajiks and Hazaras are more reluctant and more likely point to their tribe first, seeing "Afghan" as a Pashtun word. I am told that is changing as the country progresses, but it will take time. President Hamid Karzai is Pashtun, but all of the tribes have a voice in the government through representation. Tajiks and Hazaras maintain there was fraud in the election, and an investigation agreed, though not enough to change the outcome. The country's leader may be Pashtun, but it is Ahmed Shah Massoud, a Tajik, who is its national hero and most believe would have been the country's new leader after the Taliban. Massoud was the commander of the mujihadeen freedom fighters who drove out the Soviets and enjoyed numerous military victories against the Taliban. His murder by agents of Osama bin Laden two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon only helped cement his place in the hearts of Afghans. Billboards and placards bear his image all over the country, and he is talked about in the hallowed tones we once used for our own Founding Fathers. The Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police are a big part of today's desegregation plan of this country. The ANA has made it a point to mix its units for the past five years, and the ANP has followed suit. However, in an effort to retain and recruit soldiers, the ANA is allowing them to re-enlist or enlist into units closer to their home village. Some fear this will lead to segregation within its ranks again because villages themselves remain segregated throughout the country. The ANP has mixed police of different tribes for some time now, with mostly successful results. There are still instances where a Hazara chief will be slandered in the community by his Pashtun subordinates to the point of making him ineffective at his job. There are cases of a mostly Tajik police force setting up in a police district center in a Pashtun neighborhood and not getting any sort of support from the locals. As an outsider, it is frustrating to watch this country try to rebound from some very significant setbacks that were not of their own doing while shooting themselves in the foot over something that looks to be so petty, so insignificant. I recently met an Afghan man, a war hero who has fought the Taliban countless times and today works as a police chief trying to create the Afghanistan he envisions. He derided his fellow Pashtuns for holding on to their backward ways (his word, not mine). He said if you go to the universities in Kabul today, you will find a large number of Hazaras there -- learning, growing, enlightening, progressing. "We will wake up one day and find the Hazaras are in control of this country, and maybe they should be," he said, speaking of the idea as something he hopes for rather than fears. "They are the ones showing the real desire to move forward while the Pashtuns want to cling to the old ways and go backward." His thoughts echo what others have told me is the key to ending tribalism here. The children, they say, are more open to progress and care little for the differences older Afghans cling to. Education is doing much to rid the country of outdated ways of thinking, I'm told. It's encouraging to look back on U.S. history to see the growing pains our own country went through. The Civil War, women's suffrage and the civil rights movement have similarities to some of the problems the people of Afghanistan need to address and learn from. I have no doubt they can and will. They can start by looking at "tribalism" as the dirty word it is. Michael Tomberlin is a captain in the Alabama Army National Guard deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and a reporter with The News. This is another in a series of dispatches from his yearlong tour there.

The war on poppies U.S. efforts to eradicate Afghanistan's crop are empowering the Taliban by sowing seeds of resentment. Los Angeles Times, CA By Peter Bergen and Sameer Lalwani September 2, 2007 Stepping onto the balcony of the governor's mansion in Uruzgan in southern Afghanistan, you quickly grasp the scale of the drug problem gripping the country. Beginning at the walls of the mansion and stretching as far as the eye can see are hundreds of acres of poppy fields ready for harvesting for opium sap, pretty much the only way to earn a living in poverty-stricken Uruzgan. In late April, at the height of poppy-growing season, a team of more than 200 police officers from Kabul led by contractors working for the American company DynCorp International arrived in Uruzgan to undertake the first eradication efforts in the province. After some tense negotiations with local officials, the teams went out to begin destroying the poppy fields. For two days, nothing much happened, mostly because of a dispute about which fields were to be eradicated. But on the third day, when the work was getting underway in earnest, a Taliban-led force bearing small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars appeared from nowhere and attacked the eradication teams as they destroyed the fields. Four Afghan police officers were seriously injured. The Uruzgan attack demonstrated, for those who hadn't yet figured it out, just how the Taliban is seeking to exploit popular resentment against eradication efforts. All across the country, Afghan support for poppy cultivation is on the upswing; 40% of Afghans now consider it acceptable if there is no other way to earn a living, and in the southwest, where much of the poppy crop is grown, two out of three people say it is acceptable. In Uruzgan's neighboring province, Helmand -- which supplies about half the world's opium, the raw material for heroin -- favorable ratings for the Taliban now run as high as 27% (compared with 10% in the whole of Afghanistan). Instead of taking such findings to heart, the Bush administration's counter-narcotics policy over the last three years has placed eradication at its center, even though it has been met with growing Afghan skepticism and, in some cases, violence, and has coincided with a general decline in public support for the U.S. and NATO mission in Afghanistan. Why is the policy so unpopular? Consider that Afghanistan's farmers will produce an estimated 9,000 tons of opium this year from 477,000 acres, according to a United Nations report released last week, and that the total farm value of the crop will be about $1 billion. Most farmers who cultivate poppies do so because few other options -- either alternative crops or alternative livelihoods -- exist in their part of the world. You simply cannot eviscerate the livelihoods of the estimated 3 million Afghans who grow poppies and not expect a backlash. What's more, our policy is not effective. Though the U.S. spends about the same amount on counter-narcotics activities in Afghanistan annually as all Afghan poppy farmers combined take home in a year, our policies have not prevented record-setting poppy crops from springing up with every succeeding year, nor have they prevented Afghanistan from becoming a quasi-narcostate where corruption is rampant. Last week's U.N. report said Afghanistan continues to be the center of the world's heroin trade, accounting for 93% of global opium production. It noted a 17% spike in poppy cultivation in the last year, on the heels of a record 59% rise the year before. The U.S. government, in short, is deeply committed to an unsuccessful drug policy that helps its enemies. The Taliban derives not only substantial financial benefits from the opium trade, according to U.S. military officials in Afghanistan, but wins political benefits from its supportive stance on poppy growing, masterfully exploiting situations in which U.S.-sponsored eradication forces are pitted against poor farmers. Eradication has also become a wedge in the fragile relationship of the NATO countries that are part of the coalition in Afghanistan. Many European countries, including the Dutch, who have forces stationed in Uruzgan, oppose the American eradication policy. The U.S. needs its NATO partners to maintain the legitimacy of the multinational force in Afghanistan. Holding to a failed eradication policy threatens those relationships. In early August, the U.S. State Department presented its updated counter-narcotics strategy for Afghanistan. For the most part, the proposal offered few new initiatives other than a welcome emphasis on cracking down on drug kingpins. At its center, the strategy still depends on eradication efforts, along with veiled hints that the U.S. government may also pursue aerial chemical spraying, a tactic that many fear will further alienate the Afghan population. The increased funds set aside in the new plan to help farmers find alternative livelihoods -- $50 million to $60 million -- are woefully inadequate and constitute a paltry 6% of American counter-narcotics spending in Afghanistan for 2007. Eradication continues to receive the largest share of the budget. The State Department strategy misses the forest for the trees. The priority of the United States and NATO should be first to thwart the Taliban insurgency while bettering the lives of typical Afghans through significant economic and reconstruction efforts to win hearts and minds. Doing nothing on the poppy front would do more to achieve this goal than the counterproductive eradication path the U.S. currently pursues. The U.S. should adopt a "first do no harm" policy that temporarily suspends eradication while implementing a promising portfolio of new initiatives to build up alternatives for farmers. To begin with, the U.S. needs to invest in building up the legitimate Afghan economy. Though poppy fetches much higher prices than most other crops, subsidies, price supports and seeds for alternative crops should be offered to offset that price gap. Because other crops often face pitfalls such as the absence of distributors, domestic demand or consistent prices abroad, the international community should help Kabul set up an agency, modeled on the Canadian Wheat Board, that would purchase crops from farmers at consistent prices, and market and distribute them internationally. The U.S. and other NATO countries should open their markets and extend trade preferences to Afghan agricultural products and handicrafts. Currently, the U.S. funds alternative livelihoods at one-third the rate of eradication efforts -- and the money is still not making its way into the pockets of farmers. Because of bureaucratic inefficiencies, only 1% of the $100 million in funds for alternative livelihoods had been disbursed as of March, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. One reason for this is that the Afghan narcotics ministry lacks the staff and skills to quickly and effectively disburse funds. So the task should be outsourced -- in the same manner the U.S. outsources its eradication efforts to private companies like DynCorp -- until the Afghan government develops the capacity to get the job done. The U.S. and NATO should also endorse a pilot project proposed by the Senlis Council, an international nongovernmental organization with offices in southern Afghanistan, to harness poppy cultivation for the production of legal medicinal opiates such as morphine for sale to countries, such as Brazil, that are in short supply of cheap pain drugs for patients. The U.S. must stop targeting poor farmers and focus on the traffickers who make the bulk of the profits from heroin. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents on the ground should step up efforts to interrupt money-laundering networks and interdict labs and shipments. The DEA should also turn Afghanistan's shame-based culture to its advantage by making public the list of top Afghan drug suspects, including government officials, as it did in the 1990s, when it publicized the names of Colombia's drug kingpins. The U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Council on Foreign Relations estimate that the elimination of narcotics from the Afghan economy will take well over a decade. Given that time frame, our counter-narcotics policy needs to be guided by a clear strategic purpose -- providing security and defeating the Taliban. These are not simple drug dealers but narcoterrorists with a political agenda. A "first do no harm" approach would ensure that battling the drug trade does not compromise the fight against the terrorists. Peter Bergen, the author of "Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden," is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Sameer Lalwani is a policy analyst there. British war on Afghan drugs complete failure AFP 2 September 2007 Khaleej Times Online LONDON - Britains battle against the drugs trade in southern Afghanistan has been a total failure, the troubled countrys vice-president said on Sunday. The drugs eradication policy is simply too soft and it is time to get tough, Ahmad Zia Massoud wrote in the British weekly newspaper The Sunday Telegraph. Poppy cultivation was Afghanistans problem best left for Kabul to sort out, said the younger brother of iconic slain warrior Ahmad Shah Massoud. I have no doubt that the efforts of Britain and the international community in fighting the opium trade in Afghanistan are well-intentioned and we are grateful for their support, he wrote. But it is now clear that your policy in the south of our country has completely failed. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent over the last five years, the UK contributing 262 million pounds (528 million dollars), the United States about 1.6 billion dollars. Yet United Nations figures show that opium production increased by 34 percent last year and more than doubled in the last two years. In Helmand, where the British are based, poppies have spread like a cancer. The province now produces half of Afghanistans opium. Britain has around 7,000 troops in Afghanistan the second-highest after the United States to the UN-sanctioned, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. British military commanders are reluctant to get involved in anti-drugs operations, fearing it would drive farmers into the arms of Taleban rebels, The Sunday Telegraph said. Massoud said redevelopment work, such as improving roads, had helped farmers get their produce to markets but also made it easier for them to transport opium. The counter-narcotics policy has been much too soft. We are giving too much carrot and not enough stick, he wrote. Eradication was so low last year, at only about 10 percent of the crop, that it hardly made an impact on the production and will not be enough to deter farmers from planting in the future. Counter-narcotics operations are not in Afghan hands. Poppy cultivation is an Afghan problem and it needs an Afghan solution. He said Kabul needed to wipe out the plague of corruption in state institutions involved in combating narcotics and terrorism. I believe we have now reached a critical point in our struggle against the curse of opium, fundamental to the security and future of Afghanistan, he explained. The opium directly supports those who are killing Afghan and international troops. This is a vicious circle: getting rid of the poppy in the south has been difficult because of insecurity, but the insecurity is fuelled by the poppy. Failure to achieve a substantial reduction in the opium crop will be equivalent to supporting the Taleban. The time has come for us to adopt a more forceful approach. We must switch from ground-based eradication to aerial spraying. This should not create anger against the government, since it is acting with religious and legal justification, nor should it increase rural poverty. If we fail this will become a war of attrition, and more of the soldiers of Afghanistan, Britain, and other countries will be needlessly killed.

Senlis on Poppy for Medicine http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/Opium_licensing and http://www.poppyformedicine.net/ Afghan Opium Trade Hits New Peak U.N. Report Describes a Scale of Narcotics Production Not Seen in Two Centuries Washington Post By Colum Lynch and Griff Witte Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, August 28, 2007 UNITED NATIONS Aug. 27 -- Opium production in Afghanistan has increased by 34 percent over the past year, and the country is now the source of 93 percent of the heroin, morphine and other opiates on the world market, according to a report by the United Nations' anti-drug agency. "Afghanistan's opium production has thus reached a frighteningly new level, twice the amount produced just two years ago," says the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's annual opium survey, released Monday in Kabul. "Leaving aside 19th-century China . . ., no country in the world has ever produced narcotics on such a deadly scale," the report notes. The surge in opium production has frustrated U.S. and NATO military commanders, who believe that the trade plays a major role in funding a Taliban insurgency that has become increasingly deadly over the past two years. Commanders also believe that the involvement of public officials in the drug trade has undermined Afghans' confidence in their government. Neighborhoods of mansions have gone up in Afghan cities in recent years, with many of the houses financed by drugs. The newfound wealth in a country that remains desperately poor has spurred resentment among many Afghans who blame their government and the international community for not doing more to give people an economic alternative to poppies. Seven years ago, the Taliban leader Mohammad Omar banned the cultivation of opium poppies -- but not their export -- on the grounds that growing them violated the principles of Islam. But the report says that Taliban leaders have reversed their position and are now using drug profits to buy weapons and logistical equipment and to pay the salaries of their militia. The vast majority of Afghanistan's opium poppies are grown along the border with Pakistan, in five southwestern provinces with a Taliban presence, according to the report. Helmand, a Taliban stronghold that accounts for half of the country's opium, "has become the world's biggest source of illicit drugs, surpassing the output of entire countries like Colombia (coca), Morocco (cannabis), and Myanmar (opium) -- which have populations up to twenty times larger." "The Afghan situation looks grim, but it is not yet hopeless," the drug agency's executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, said in a prepared statement. He cited evidence that several provinces in central and northern Afghanistan have eradicated their opium fields. The northern Afghan province of Balkh has seen a decline in opium cultivation from 17,000 acres to zero. The report attributes the drop to economic incentives and security guarantees that "have led farmers to turn their back on opium." Witte reported from Islamabad, Pakistan. Afghan opium production hits record, fueled by insurgency and corruption The Associated Press 08/27/2007 KABUL Afghan opium poppy cultivation has exploded to a new record high this year, with the multibillion dollar trade now fueled by Taliban militants and corrupt officials in President Hamid Karzai's government, a U.N. report said Monday. Afghanistan has opium growing on 193,000 hectares (477,000 acres) of land, a 17 percent increase from last year's record 165,000 hectares (408,000 acres), according to an annual survey by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. The country now accounts for 93 percent of the global production of opium, the raw material for heroin, and has doubled its output over the last two years, the report said. "The situation is dramatic and getting worse by the day," said Antonio Maria Costa, the UNODC's executive director. "No other country in the world has ever had such a large amount of farmland used for illegal activity, beside China 100 years ago," when it was a major opium producer, Costa said in an interview in Kabul. The burgeoning drug business casts doubt on the effectiveness of projects funded by the United States and other Western donors to battle the illicit trade. It also adds pressure on Karzai to consider new ways of curbing an expansion that threatens to turn Afghanistan into a 'narco-state' where some observers warn that groups such as al-Qaida could once again find sanctuary. Karzai last year rejected U.S. offers to spray this year's crop, after Afghans said the herbicide could affect livestock, crops and water supplies fears the U.S. calls unfounded. Costa said the U.N. supports the government's position, but added that crop eradication was a key element of any strategy to combat its growth. Afghanistan is on course to produce 8,200 metric tons (9,000 tons) of opium this year, up 34 percent from 6,100 metric tons (6,724 tons) in 2006, Costa said. The farm-gate value of Afghanistan's annual crop is about US$1 billion (730 million), the U.N. survey said. The street value of the heroin produced from it is many times higher. While the number of poppy-free provinces in the country's north has increased from six in 2006 to 13 in 2007, production in the insurgency-hit southern provinces has exploded to unprecedented levels. The southern province of Helmand alone, with 102,770 hectares (253,944 acres) under cultivation, now accounts for over half of the national total. Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's acting counternarcotics minister, acknowledged that the drugs strategy had failed in the country's south and west, which he blamed on inept local officials and poor policing, but also to open borders with Iran to the west and Pakistan to the east. Khodaidad, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said the government needed to review its strategy, and threatened to sack inefficient and corrupt officials and reward those that curbed the production and trade at a national conference scheduled for Wednesday. Costa linked the booming trade primarily to the rise of insurgent activity in the south. "The government has lost control of this territory because of the presence of the insurgents, because of the presence of the terrorists, whether Taliban or splinter al-Qaida groups," Costa said. "It is clearly documented now that insurgents actively promote or allow and then take advantage of the cultivation, refining, and the trafficking of opium," he said. Taliban militants levy a tax on farmers and also provide protection for convoys smuggling opium into neighboring countries, Costa said. Some 3.3 million of Afghanistan's estimated 25 million people are now involved in producing opium, according to the report. Costa said there was a "tremendous amount of collusion" between traffickers and government officials. "The government's benign tolerance of corruption is undermining the future: no country has ever built prosperity on crime," Costa said in a summary of the report. While urging NATO to stay clear of eradication efforts, Costa said the link between the insurgency and the trade meant the alliance had a direct interest in supporting counternarcotics operations by destroying opium labs, targeting traffickers and closing opium markets. "The opium economy of Afghanistan can be bankrupted by blocking the two-way flow of imported chemicals and exported drugs," Costa said. "In both instances materials are being moved across the southern border and nobody seems to take notice," he said. Refiners need chemicals to turn opium into heroin. The report did not say how much of the opium gets made into heroin in Afghanistan before being smuggled out. Costa also urged Afghanistan's government to submit the names of about a dozen known traffickers whom he did not name to the U.N. Security Council for inclusion alongside al-Qaida and Taliban members on a list of individuals who are barred from traveling, have their assets seized and face extradition. "The Afghan opium situation looks grim, but it is not yet hopeless," Costa said. "It will take time, money and determination worthwhile investments to spare Afghanistan and the rest of the world more tragedies." Drugs "cancer" threatens Afghanistan's survival Reuters 08/27/2007 By Jon Hemming KABUL The Afghan government and its international backers must do much more to curb the "disastrous" record drug crop, which is like a cancer threatening the survival of the country, the United Nations' drugs control chief said. Afghanistan's opium crop has risen every year since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001 and another record crop was recorded in 2007, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Monday. "The opium situation in Afghanistan is disastrous," UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa told Reuters in an interview. "There is a cancer spreading throughout the body of Afghanistan." The Taliban insurgency is driving the surge, with drug production increasing in the south of the country where security is weakest, more than wiping out progress made in the more peaceful north and centre where opium cultivation has fallen. "It is the symbiosis, the inter-linkage between the cultivation of drugs on the one hand and the insurgency on the other which creates, I would say, the greatest difficulty and the greatest threat to the government of Afghanistan, even to the survival of the country as we have known it," Costa said. Since 2001, the international community, led by the United States, has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into halting poppy cultivation, heroin processing and trafficking abroad, but costly foreign contractors take the lion's share. "A large segment of that money is actually spent on processes, on consultants, mostly on Western enterprises," said Costa. "CORRUPT OFFICIALS" International donors had given nearly $100 million to the Afghan government for counter-narcotics operations, Costa said. But, he said, "that money has actually not even been spent because of bureaucratic inertia, delays, bickering among different ministries and so on." Only 2.5 percent of the fund had so far been used -- "an abysmal number which means there is probably about $97 million sitting around waiting". The huge profits from drugs -- worth some $3 billion a year to the Afghan economy -- have a corrupting influence on government and weaken the state's grip on parts of the country, helping the Taliban and further boosting drug production. "Certainly corruption has been a major factor facilitating the spread of this cancer," Costa said. "We are pleading with the government to clamp down on corrupt government officials ... We would welcome stronger measures against corrupt officials, their dismissals, their prosecutions, the recovery of assets." A U.N. Security Council resolution passed late last year allowed member states to add the names of drug traffickers to a list of al Qaeda and Taliban suspects in order to seize their assets, ban their travel and extradite them for prosecution. "So far no member state has submitted any name to the security council," Costa said. "We are pleading with names to be provided starting with the ones that the government of Afghanistan could provide," he said. "Some of them are walking around freely, perhaps in the palaces of Afghanistan, others are on the margins of the law." Foreign troops in Afghanistan also needed to be more active in detecting and destroying heroin laboratories and providing security to Afghan drug eradication forces, Costa said. "I believe that no military operation can be successful unless the drug trafficking is also dealt with." Failings in war on Afghan drugs BBC 08/27/2007 By Alastair Leithead The United Nations says opium production in Afghanistan has "soared to frightening record levels" with an increase on last year of more than a third. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime report says the amount of opium produced has doubled in the last two years, and that Helmand province is now the biggest single drug producing area in the world - surpassing whole countries. Despite billions of dollars of aid and tens of thousands of international troops, the 193,000 hectares of opium poppies grown in Afghanistan this year are now responsible for almost all the world's opiates, according to the UN report. "The results are very bad, terrifyingly bad," said Antonio Maria Costa, the head of UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Cultivation was at a historic level, he said, pointing out that the total yield was up 34% because the weather had made the poppies more productive. 'Serious picture' But despite the overall increase, twice as many provinces are now drug-free in northern and central Afghanistan, and the report says growing opium poppies is now closely linked to the insurgency and the instability in the south. The UN report links the Taleban to the increase in opiate production. The figures come as a major setback for British efforts to reduce the amount of opium poppies grown in Afghanistan - the raw materials for most of the UK and Europe's heroin. They are the lead nation fighting the war against drug growers and traffickers. The British ambassador, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, said: "It paints a very serious picture and we are deeply concerned. "The drugs problem is a symptom of a deeper disease and as we tackle instability, tackle disorder and the insurgency, we are facing some very big challenges on all those fronts, but as we tackle them we will see poppy production go down. "The overall conclusion is that there are no magic solutions, no silver bullets, and that this requires patience. As experience in Pakistan or Thailand shows, it takes 15 or 20 years to squeeze a cancer like this out of a society as debilitated as Afghanistan's is after 30 years of war," he said. The report recommends more determined efforts to bring security, urging the government to get tough on corruption which it says is driving the drugs trade. It lists poor governance, a weak judiciary and failing eradication programmes as contributing factors. For another year the eradication efforts were hampered not just by corruption in the national government, but also by corruption at local levels. 'Counter-drugs policy' Arguments have been put forward for a change of strategy - one campaign group is trying to pilot programmes to legalise drug production, and the American Ambassador, Bill Wood, believes aerial spraying could make a huge impact. "Yes, it's still my view," he said. "We all agree illicit narcotics are a cancer and as consulting physicians, some emphasise radiation therapy, some surgery. I'm a surgery man myself, but we all agree we have to cut the cancer out and we are committed to a much more robust effort this year. "Alternative livelihood for the farmers is one element, the second element is interdiction and the third is eradication. All three of those elements are necessary for a counter-drugs policy." And emphasis is being placed on the Afghan government to put its house in order and crack down on the drugs lords. The UN says it has given a list of names, and the British government has funded a high-security prison for the "Mr Bigs", but still there is little progress. The acting Minister for Counter Narcotics, General Khodaidad, says these targets will be pursued, but there is little evidence on the ground that this is happening, with some in the government alleged to have links with the traffickers, while the judiciary is still struggling to keep up. "Unfortunately we have failed," Gen Khodaidad said. "In security we have failed, in the drug issue we have failed. We have not done a good job in Helmand. This year we must change our strategy on how to work to handle security and tackle the poppy in Helmand province." Inside an Afghan opium market By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Shaddle Bazaar, eastern Afghanistan Monday, 27 August 2007 Travelling on Afghanistan's main Jalalabad to Torkham road, you eventually arrive at Shaddle Bazaar, a market of around 30 shops in the eastern province of Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan. At first glance, it looks like any other normal market offering everyday goods. But in reality, this is one of Afghanistan's biggest opium markets. Farmers from Nangarhar and other adjacent provinces bring opium to Shaddle to sell. Much of it comes from Nangarhar and Helmand - two of Afghanistan's biggest opium-producing provinces. Mud hut shop Thousands of kilos of opium are bought and sold every day. Sitting inside the shop tension between the drug dealers is visible - for a few minutes there is hot dispute and shouting over prices and the quality of the opium before the transaction is completed. There are big scales in the shop, and the assistant weighs the opium on it - Gul Mohammad is busy counting out Pakistani rupees to pay for the opium he has bought from one of his customers. In his mud hut shop he buys hundreds of kilos of opium every day and the smell of it is everywhere. Outside his shop vehicles come and go - green tea is served constantly for the visitors. But you do not have to study what is going on too closely to notice the unusual - a man carries a big bag full of hundreds of thousands of Afghanis. The dealers all carry pistols which they say is for their own protection. Customers enter the shop bringing opium packed secretly, which they refer to by its nickname as maal. They are constantly on the look-out for government informers. I am repeatedly asked not to take pictures of anyone's face, nor should I name anyone. The names of those involved in the drugs trade in this piece have been made up to protect their identity. "We could get killed or arrested," says one of the few people in the shop willing to talk to me. Europe bound Some villagers, like 18-year-old Abdullah Jan, have to walk for hours before reaching Shaddle. The tiredness on his face explains it all - if he is stopped by government agents or bandits he would lose money that feeds his family for the entire year. "I left at four in the morning and got here after four hours. I have brought 10kg of opium from my fields to sell." After a hard bargain with Gul Mohammad Khan, the opium dealer, he is getting the equivalent of $1,400 - more than he can get for any other crop. He is one of hundreds of people who travel to Shaddle bazaar to sell and buy opium. From here the opium is taken to the nearby mountains and villages in the border areas to heroin labs set up by local drug dealers, where it is processed into heroin. Eventually, it will hit the streets of Europe. The market first began to sell opium openly under the Taleban regime after they permitted the cultivation of poppies. After the fall of the Taleban in 2001, the market has been raided several times but it has re-opened again and again. In recent months, Afghanistan's elite anti-drug force has raided the bazaar with the help of foreign forces in the country - they made arrests and seized opium and heroin in large quantities. But they did not succeed in closing down the bazaar indefinitely. Last year, Afghanistan's poppy production reached record levels. The US state department's annual report on narcotics said the flourishing drugs trade was undermining the fight against the Taleban. Powerful mafia It warned of a possible increase in heroin overdoses in Europe and the Middle East as a result. Poppy production rose 25% in 2006, a figure US Assistant Secretary of State Ann Patterson described as alarming. Four years after the US and its British allies began combating poppy production, Afghanistan still accounts for 90% of the world's opium trade. The US has recently given the Afghan government more than $10bn in assistance, but most of the money will be spent on security rather than encouraging alternative sources of income. For 45-year-old Gul Mohammad Khan being a opium trader is his way of surviving. "If we had roads, clinics, factories and if there were job opportunities I would not do what I am doing now," he said. For the past 10 years Mr Mohammad has seen many regimes and local officials come and go. His shop has been raided many times but he has never been arrested. Inside, I am shown various qualities of opium and other raw material that are used to make heroin. Current prices are anywhere from 10,000 Afghanis ($201) for a kilo of dry opium - that is the best quality - to around 5,500 Afghanis ($110) for wet opium. Target traffickers According to officials, the mafia is powerful and strong. "They are so strong that we sometimes find ourselves outnumbered fighting them," says Gen Daud Daud, the deputy minister of interior in charge of counter narcotics. "In these mountains of Achin district and other border villages they have everything from heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and of course better vehicles and more money than we do." Haji Deen Gul - who is selling 20kg of opium - is critical of the Afghan government and the international community for targeting the farmers. Instead he wants the traffickers to be targeted. "They should target the ones who are selling the heroin to Western countries. I sell my opium to feed my family and from my heroin they can even make medicine. When I have water and roads provided to me, I will stop growing poppies." Before I leave Gul Mohammad Khan's shop, he tells me selling opium is not ideally the trade he wants to be in. "I don't want my children to be in this trade and I hope that some day the world will help us. Only then can we stop the opium trade." Names of those mentioned in the article have been changed to protect their identities. UN alarmed as Afghan opium trade soars to new high KABUL, Aug 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News) Poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan have soared to new 'frightening highs' this year, the United Nations said in a bleak annual report here on Monday. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) pointed out in the 2007 Annual Opium Survey released at a news conference here, revealed much of the increase this year concentrated in the embattled south - notably in the Helmand province. UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa told newsmen the area under opium cultivation jumped to 193,000 hectares in 2007 from 165,000 last year. Similarly, the total opium harvest is expected to go up by more than a third to 8,200 tonnes from 6,100 tonnes in 2006. "The Afghan opium situation looks grim; it is not yet hopeless, nonetheless" remarked Costa, who stressed a more determined effort by the Karzai administration and the global fraternity to combat the twin threats of drugs and insurgency. Although Taliban enforced a strict ban on poppy cultivation towards the twilight of their regime, they are currently pocketing huge profits from the drugs trade, estimated at $3 billion a year. The Afghan opium accounts for more than 93 per cent of the world's illegal output, worrying the world body. According to the 21-page report, the area of land used for growing opium is now larger than the combined total under coca cultivation in Latin America - Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. No other country has produced narcotics on such a deadly scale since China in the 19th century. However, the survey pointed out, the number of opium-free provinces in the centre and north of the country more than doubled from six to 13 compared to 2006, indicating an intensification of markedly divergent trends between the north and south. As poppy cultivation declined from 7,200 hectares last year to zero in Balkh, 80 per cent of opium poppies were grown in a handful of southern provinces on the border with Pakistan, where instability is greatest. In volatile Helmand, where the Taliban insurgency is concentrated, cultivation rose 48 per cent to 102,770 hectares. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) should more actively support counter-narcotics operations in the country, suggested Costa, who urged greater focus on the destruction of heroin labs, curbs on trafficking and rewards for the provinces where cultivation and production have come down. He went on argue: "Since drugs are funding insurgency, Afghanistan's military and its allies have a vested interest in destroying heroin labs, closing opium markets and bringing traffickers to justice. Tacit acceptance of opium trafficking is undermining stabilisation efforts." Helmand alone has emerged the world's largest source of illicit drugs, exceeding the output of whole countries like Colombia (coca), Morocco (cannabis) and Myanmar (opium). "It would be an historic mistake to let Afghanistan collapse under the blows of drugs and insurgency," warned Costa, who claimed: "Only 14 per cent of the population is involved in opium cultivation. The vast majority of Afghans want to turn their country away from drugs and crime. They deserve our support." In a brief chat on the occasion, Acting Counter-Narcotics Minister Gen. Khuda Dad promised they would announce at an upcoming national conference the names of governors and other officials, who have failed to control the increase in poppy cultivation and opium production. Reported by Zubair Babakarkhel Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah

Record-breaking opium crop destabilizes Afghanistan Reuters 08/26/2007 By Jon Hemming KABUL Afghanistan's poppy harvest is expected to top all records this year as the country spirals deeper into a vicious circle of drugs, corruption and insecurity. A United Nations report due on Monday will announce that Afghanistan is now producing nearly 95 percent of the world's opium, up from 92 percent in 2006, officials and diplomats say. This marks the sixth straight year of rises since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 -- despite hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into programs to halt cultivation, processing and trafficking of the drug. "It is a very bad situation definitely, and the government has not been able to deal with it in the right way, otherwise it should have at least been stabilized or contained," said Christina Oguz, the head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan. "The same goes for the international community." Afghanistan is locked in a vicious circle in which drug money corrupts government and helps fund the Taliban insurgency. That weakens state control over parts of the country, which in turn leads to more insecurity and more drug production. The scale of the problem is huge. Opium and the heroin made from it are estimated to be worth some $3 billion to the Afghan economy, about a third of its gross domestic product. SECURITY WEAK Security is key. The Taliban managed to drastically reduce the 2001 poppy crop as they held most of the country firmly under their control and implemented strict punishments for offenders. Now, some 70 percent of opium production comes from provinces in the south where the Taliban insurgency is strongest. People who have seen the UNODC and Afghan Counter-Narcotics Ministry report say one of the few bright spots in it is the rise in opium-free provinces from six last year to around 10 in 2007 -- all in the north where security is best. Both traffickers and the Taliban have a common interest in instability and lawlessness, Afghan and foreign officials say. "Traffickers are equipping and providing funds for terrorist organizations that are responsible for many attacks in Kabul, other parts of the country and other parts of the world," said Counter-Narcotics Ministry spokesman Zalmay Afzaly. Insecurity also leads farmers to plant poppy, as fighting may prevent them from getting perishable crops to market. "The great thing about opium is that it lasts for 20 to 30 years -- it's money in the bank," said a senior Western diplomat. "So if you're not sure you can get your onions or carrots to market as they may go off because it's too insecure to move, then you grow opium and put it under your bed -- it's a currency." While foreign forces regularly inflict crushing battlefield defeats on the Taliban, even optimists do not expect an end to the insurgency anytime soon. CARROTS AND POPPIES Meanwhile, the notoriously corrupt, poorly equipped and badly paid Afghan police are unlikely to be able to do much to stop drug producers and traffickers, let alone the kingpins that run the trade and have thus far remained free from prosecution. The Afghan Counter Narcotics Ministry says it has not had enough evidence to bring corrupt officials to book. The United States had championed aerial spraying to eradicate poppy crops, but that idea has been quietly dropped for another year due to objections from the Afghan government, worried about adverse public reaction, diplomats say. Instead, Washington unveiled a carrot-and-stick strategy this month giving greater financial incentives to Afghan provincial governors to combat drugs while stepping up coordination between counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency forces. That should help governors in the north who have successfully fought poppy cultivation, but have missed out on most of the aid which is spent in the south where drug production has spiraled. Total U.S. aid for Helmand, the biggest opium-producing province, is $200 million this year. If Helmand were a country it would be the fifth biggest recipient of U.S. aid, diplomats say. But better irrigation and agricultural methods can sometimes backfire. "They use it for growing opium," said Oguz. "This is telling the rest of the country 'grow opium and we'll give you a lot of rewards, we'll give you aid'." The decision to plant opium is often not related to poverty and the lack of alternative crops. The lush strip of land along the banks of the Helmand River is one of the most fertile farming areas in Afghanistan and was once the country's bread-basket. Rather, the driving force behind opium production is a nexus of traffickers, insurgents, powerful landowners and corrupt officials, experts say. The plan agreed by the Afghan government and major donors is to break the links between these elements in what is likely to be a prolonged campaign of public awareness, alternative development, crop eradication, tackling traffickers, law enforcement and judicial reform. "The problem is enormous and progress is very small," said Oguz. "Unless the international community and the government together are very determined ... we will not see enough change for a very long time."

The New York Times By DAVID ROHDE Published: August 26, 2007 LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan Aug. 25 Afghanistan produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 percent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province, according to a new United Nations survey to be released Monday. The report is likely to touch off renewed debate about the United States $600 million counternarcotics program in Afghanistan, which has been hampered by security challenges and endemic corruption within the Afghan government. I think it is safe to say that we should be looking for a new strategy, said William B. Wood, the American ambassador to Afghanistan, commenting on the reports overall findings. And I think that we are finding one. Mr. Wood said the current American programs for eradication, interdiction and alternative livelihoods should be intensified, but he added that ground spraying poppy crops with herbicide remained a possibility. Afghan and British officials have opposed spraying, saying it would drive farmers into the arms of the Taliban. While the report found that opium production dropped in northern Afghanistan, Western officials familiar with the assessment said, cultivation rose in the south, where Taliban insurgents urge farmers to grow poppies. Although common farmers make comparatively little from the trade, opium is a major source of financing for the Taliban, who gain public support by protecting farmers fields from eradication, according to American officials. They also receive a cut of the trade from traffickers they protect. In Taliban-controlled areas, traffickers have opened more labs that process raw opium into heroin, vastly increasing its value. The number of drug labs in Helmand rose to roughly 50 from 30 the year before, and about 16 metric tons of chemicals used in heroin production have been confiscated this year. The Western officials said countrywide production had increased from 2006 to 2007, but they did not know the final United Nations figure. They estimated a countrywide increase of 10 to 30 percent. The new survey showed positive signs as well, officials said. The sharp drop in poppy production in the north is likely to make this years countrywide increase smaller than the growth in 2006. Last year, a 160 percent increase in Helmands opium crop fueled a 50 percent nationwide increase. Afghanistan produced a record 6,100 metric tons of opium poppies last year, 92 percent of the worlds supply. Here in Helmand, the breadth of the poppy trade is staggering. A sparsely populated desert province twice the size of Maryland, Helmand produces more narcotics than any country on earth, including Myanmar, Morocco and Colombia. Rampant poverty, corruption among local officials, a Taliban resurgence and spreading lawlessness have turned the province into a narcotics juggernaut. Poppy prices that are 10 times higher than those for wheat have so warped the local economy that some farmhands refused to take jobs harvesting legal crops this year, local farmers said. And farmers dismiss the threat of eradication, arguing that so many local officials are involved in the poppy trade that a significant clearing of crops will never be done. American and British officials say they have a long-term strategy to curb poppy production. About 7,000 British troops and Afghan security forces are gradually extending the governments authority in some areas, they said. The British government is spending $60 million to promote legal crops in the province, and the United States Agency for International Development is mounting a $160 million alternative livelihoods program across southern Afghanistan, most of it in Helmand. Loren Stoddard, director of the aid agencys agriculture program in Afghanistan, cited American-financed agricultural fairs, the introduction of high-paying legal crops and the planned construction of a new industrial park and airport as evidence that alternatives were being created. Mr. Stoddard, who helped Wal-Mart move into Central America in his previous posting, predicted that poppy production had become so prolific that the opium market was flooded and prices were starting to drop. It seems likely theyll have a rough year this year, he said, referring to the poppy farmers. Labor prices are up and poppy prices are down. I think theyre going to be looking for new things. On Wednesday, Mr. Stoddard and Rory Donohoe, the director of the American development agencys Alternative Livelihoods program in southern Afghanistan, attended the first Helmand Agricultural Festival. The $300,000 American-financed gathering in Lashkar Gah was an odd cross between a Midwestern county fair and a Central Asian bazaar, devised to show Afghans an alternative to poppies. Under a scorching sun, thousands of Afghan men meandered among booths describing fish farms, the dairy business and drip-irrigation systems. A generator, cow and goat were raffled off. Wizened elders sat on carpets and sipped green tea. Some wealthy farmers seemed interested. Others seemed keen to attend what they saw as a picnic. When Mr. Stoddard and Mr. Donohoe arrived, they walked through the festival surrounded by a three-man British and Australian security team armed with assault rifles. Who won the cow? Who won the cow? shouted Mr. Stoddard, 38, a burly former food broker from Provo, Utah. Was it a girl or a guy? After Afghans began dancing to traditional drum and flute music, Mr. Donohoe, 29, from San Francisco, briefly joined them. Some Afghans praised the fairs alternatives crops. Others said only the rich could afford them. Haji Abdul Gafar, 28, a wealthy landowner, expressed interest in some of the new ideas. Saber Gul, a 40-year-old laborer, said he was too poor to take advantage. For those who have livestock and land, they can, he said. For us, the poor people, there is nothing. Local officials said all the development programs would fail without improved security. Assadullah Wafa, Helmands governor, said four of Helmands 13 districts were under Taliban control. Other officials put the number at six. Mr. Wafa, who eradicated far fewer acres than the governor of neighboring Kandahar Province, promised to improve eradication in Helmand next year. He also called for Western countries to decrease the demand for heroin. The world is focusing on the production side, not the buying side, he said. The day after the agricultural fair, Mr. Stoddard and Mr. Donohoe gave a tour of a $3 million American project to clear a former Soviet airbase on the outskirts of town and turn it into an industrial park and civilian airport. Standing near rusting Soviet fuel tanks, the two men described how pomegranates, a delicacy in Helmand for centuries, would be flown out to growing markets in India and Dubai. Animal feed would be produced from a local mill, marble cut and polished for construction. Once we get this air cargo thing going, Mr. Stoddard said, it will open up the whole south. That afternoon, they showed off a pilot program for growing chili peppers on contract for a company in Dubai. These kinds of partnerships with private companies are what we want here, said Mr. Donohoe, who has a Masters in Business Administration from Georgetown University. Well let the market drive it. As the Americans toured the farm, they were guarded by eight Afghans and three British and Australian guards. The farm itself had received guards after local villagers began sneaking in at night and stealing produce. Twenty-four hours a day, 24 Afghan men with assault rifles staff six guard posts that ring the farm, safeguarding chili peppers and other produce. Some people would say that security is so bad that you cant do anything, Mr. Donohoe said. But we do it. Mr. Wafa, though, called the American reconstruction effort too small and low quality. There is a proverb in Afghanistan, he said. By one flower we cannot mark spring.

Dear Colleagues, Development and peace in Afghanistan continue to prove multi-faceted and complex phenomena. The Conference of Defence Associations would like to draw your attention to recent articles that discuss the future of the NATO mission in the country, the role of Pakistan and its influence over the situation, and the domestic prospects for peace and development in Afghanistan. NATO Involvement In a report for the U.S. Congress published in July 2007 (see link below), the author Paul Gallis gives a concise overview of the history and prospects of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. He emphasizes that while NATO members may have similar goals, national approaches often differ widely. These differences arise from divergent tactics, military capabilities, domestic political imperatives, and larger strategic considerations. The author concludes that the outcome of the effort to stabilize Afghanistan will decisively affect the cohesiveness of NATO. In an article in the Scotland on Sunday (see link below), Brian Brady reports that European allies have flatly ruled out the provision of extra military assistance in Afghanistan. In an article for The Scotsman (see link below), James Kirkup reports that the British Government is planning to withdraw its 5500 troops from southern Iraq while simultaneously strengthening British Forces in Afghanistan with an additional 2000 troops, adding to the existing British contingent of some 7500 soldiers. An announcement on the subject by Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected in October. In an article for the Kingston Whig-Standard (see link below), Senator Hugh Segal notes that the challenge of the post-09 Canadian deployment inAfghanistan is not just a Canadian challenge . . . [but] one that NATO must face as a collectivity. He notes that the credibility of such a mission relies on strong NATO support for a continued Canadian presence, and that [non]-robust NATO players such as Spain, Belgium, Italy, Turkey and others need to be more fully engaged with both troops and hard assets. Senator Segal ends with the warning that a NATO withdrawal would send a message . . . that the West is not prepared to defend its way of life and could bring the struggle closer to home, if not home itself. Pakistans Role in Afghanistan In an article for The New Republic (see link below), Dennis Ross considers whether pre-emptive strikes by the US against Al Qaeda bases in Pakistan are viable options given the reluctance of Musharraf to take firmer action himself. He advocates a tougher approach by the US, as it has an interest in using its leverage to [condition] the Pakistani public to a reality that if Pakistan does not act against such a threat [the U.S] may have no choice but to do so. On a different note, an article in Asia Times (see link below) by M.K. Bhadrakumar argues that the interests of Pakistan are being advanced by its involvement in the Afghan peace process. Musharraf has moved Pakistan to the center-stage of negotiations involving the Taliban, demonstrating to all parties concerned that Pakistans support cannot be extracted with threats but only through meaningful dialogue. In promoting a non-military solution to the Afghan problem, the author estimates that the jirgas peace process will incrementally free Pakistan from the distractions over the frontier problems in its western region and lead to more wholehearted cooperation from Islamabad for the consolidation of a long-term NATO presence in the region. Afghan Development Issues The eradication of poppy growing in Afghanistan continues to be a multi-dimensional operation, with no simple solution available. It involves economic, judicial and development factors. In a piece for the US Department of States information services (see link below), Jane Morse quotes US government officials stating that opium production is second only to terrorism as a threat to the economic development of Afghanistan. While US officials acknowledge that poppy cultivation has declined in some areas of Afghanistan, it has grown in areas where control is less secure. The article notes that ordinary Afghans do not benefit from the profits of the trade, which constitutes approximately 32% of the countrys total gross domestic product. Officials also add that there is no miracle crop that can equal the income from poppy. Furthermore, any replacement agricultural endeavours require suitable infrastructure to be successful and sustainable. In an article in the Globe and Mail (see link below), Paul Koring and Alex Dobrota highlight the difficulties in establishing an Afghan police force, the Achilles heel of the entire reconstruction effort. This effort will take generations and is essential to the legacy of the development of a larger and respected justice system. In an article in the National Post (see link below), Keith Martin highlights the poor facilities at a major hospital in Kandahar province, and calls on the Canadian International Development Agency to repair the facility in order to allow ordinary Afghans to access health care and facilitate the winning of hearts and minds. In article for the Washington Times (see link below), Isambard Wilkinson reports that the Taliban has published its first military field manual detailing how to spring ambushes, run spies and conduct an insurgency against coalition forces. Running at 144 pages, the manual indicates a significant level of organization and appears to be the result of collaboration between religious scholars and specialists in terrorist, logistical and intelligence tactics. Apart from addressing material and logistical concerns, the manual also addresses issues of recruitment and religious philosophy regarding the prosecution of jihad. On a more optimistic note, in a piece in The Weekly Standard (see link below), Ann Marlowe highlights how through the introduction of Provincial Development Plans, Afghans are setting spending priorities for their localities for the first time in their history. A bottom-up approach to aid disbursement would help to rectify the skewed development agenda that favours urban over rural areas. The CDA believes that, despite all of the difficulties involved, the mission in Afghanistan has witnessed a large share of successes and shows signs of progress. However, it is only with sustained commitment and a greater attention to the shortcomings of the coalition effort that developments can be termed an outright success. Canadas mission in Kandahar remains a vital component in the allied effort and has done much to ensure successes, both big and small, on the ground. Therefore, despite ill-advised calls to withdraw Canadian troops entirely from Kandahar after February 2009 (see article by Bruce Campion-Smith in the Toronto Star, link below), the CDA believes that the Canadian presence beyond 2009 must continue to be robust and effective in order to ensure a successful peace and development agenda in Afghanistan. Alain Pellerin Colonel (retd) Executive Director, Conference of Defence Associations (613) 236-1252 Links: Paul Gallis. NATO in Afghanistan: A Test of the Transatlantic Alliance. Updated on 16 July 2007. Congressional Research Service, Report for Congress. Available online at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33627.pdf Brian Brady. Allies refuse to send more troops to Afghanistan as death toll rises. Scotland on Sunday, 19 August 2007. Available online at:http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1311882007 James Kirkup. British troops will quit Iraq fight for Afghanistan amid US criticism of role. The Scotsman, 20 August 2007. Available online at:http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1315842007 Hugh Segal. Peter MacKay's Afghan challenge; A foundation for greater stability is being laid, but security will remain a key part of the structure. TheKingston Whig-Standard, 17 August 2007. Available online at: http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/printable.asp?paper=www.thewhig.com&contentid=657473&annewspapername=The+Kingston+Whig-Standard Dennis Ross. Statecraft Picking Battles. New Republic Online, 13 August 2007. Available online at: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/print.php?template=C06&CID=1080 M.K. Bhadrakumar. Afghanistans ball back in Pakistans court. Asia Times, 18 August 2007. Available online at:http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IH18Df05.html Jane Morse. Opiums Threat to Afghanistan Second Only to Terrorism. USINFO, 14 August 2007. Bureau of International Information Programs, US Department of State. Available online at: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=August&x=20070814144004ajesroM0.6177332 Paul Koring and Alex Dobrota. Keeping Afghan police on the straight and narrow. Globe and Mail, 20 August 2007. Available online at:http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/story/RTGAM.20070820.wafghanpolice20/BNStory/Afghanistan/home Keith Martin. Canadas missed opportunity in Afghanistan. National Post, 21 August 2007. Available online at:http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=2bd07300-94c3-403c-82ea-635573d5a8cf Isambard Wilkinson. Taliban manual guides terrorists. Washington Times, 18 August 2007. Available online at:http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070818/FOREIGN/108180033/1003 Ann Marlowe. The Afghan Grassroots. The Weekly Standard, 20 August 2007. Available online at:http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/985vzcxh.asp Bruce Campion-Smith. Dion: End combat by '09. Toronto Star, 18 August 2007. Available online at:http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/247574

Ministry launches mass awareness drive against poppy cultivation KABUL, Aug 21 (Pajhwok Afghan News) The Acting Minister for Counternarcotics said they had launched a mass awareness campaign in 17 provinces of the country. General Khudaidad, Acting Minister for Counternarcotics Tuesday told journalists the campaign was launched on August 1. He added an amount of $0.5 million had been provided by the United States and England for the campaign. The provinces where the mass awareness drive was underway included Uruzgan, Helmand, Kandahar, Farah, Nimroz, Zabul, Nangarhar, Laghman, Balkh, Badakhshan, Ghor, Baghlan, Daikundi and Badghis, said the minister. He added that the government was going to announce 13 other provinces free of poppies during the current year. He said last year, six provinces were announced poppy-free. Each of those provinces was provided with $0.5 million from the Counternarcotics Trust Fund (CNTF) of the ministry. He said one million dollars additional would be given to each province if they achieved the target during this year. The provincial government would launch reconstruction projects with the amount. Maidan Wardak, Kabul, Parwan, Panjsher and Baghlan provinces did not cultivate poppies last year. According to a report, Afghanistan produced 92 percent of the world heroin last year. Ahmad Kahlid Moahid mnm/dk