Pubdate: Mon, 08 Apr 2002
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

AFGHAN POPPY FARMERS REVOLT

Afghan Poppy Farmers Open Fire On Government Officials Seeking To Eradicate 
Drug Crop

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Tribal poppy farmers in eastern Afghanistan opened 
fire on provincial officials surveying their fields as a government program 
to eradicate opium poppies began Monday. At least one official was reported 
killed.

Shenwari tribesmen also blocked the highway between Kabul, the Afghan 
capital, and Pakistan, pelting vehicles with rocks, according to travelers 
arriving in this border town.

Pir Haideri, an official with the Nangarhar provincial government in 
Jalalabad, said the official in charge of security on the Pakistan- Afghan 
Highway was killed in the shooting in Marco, 12 miles into Afghanistan. 
Four others were wounded, he said.

Hashim Khan, a traveler arriving here, put the death toll at four, 
including the security official and two Afghan workers for a nongovernment 
organization working to eradicate poppy fields. Haideri said he knew of one 
death but that his information could be incomplete.

Afghanistan once was the source of roughly 70 percent of the world's opium. 
The Taliban banned the crop in 2000, but the rout of the Islamic extremist 
militia after a U.S. bombing campaign last year prompted farmers to quickly 
replant their crops.

As of Monday, the new Afghan government was offering poor farmers about 
$500 an acre to destroy narcotic-bearing poppy flowers. The program has 
angered many farmers because the sum falls far short of the narcotic's 
market value.

There also were reports of violence at a demonstration against the program 
in southern Helmand province. Khan Aka, a 40-year-old farmer, said one man 
was killed and two were wounded when security forces opened fire on the 
protesters.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager