Pubdate: Sat, 29 Jan 2005
Source: Khaleej Times (UAE)
Copyright: 2005 Khaleej Times
Contact:  http://khaleejtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/996

INTERNATIONAL AID SHOULD BE TIED TO ANTI-DRUG MEASURES IN AFGHANISTAN: UN

KABUL - International aid to Afghanistan should be decreased if the country 
does not curb drug production, the executive director of the United Nations 
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Antonio Maria Costa said Saturday.

"I want the international financial lenders to introduce a negative pledge 
in their lending ... so that the resources will be made available (only) if 
there is a pledge that no opium will be cultivated in the district in the 
village in the province," Costa told AFP.

Costa is on a four-day visit to Kabul to discuss that country's opium trade 
with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

He said his measures would make it possible "to put an end to (assistance) 
programs" if drug production does not cease.

"I will be campaigning for the introduction of a negative pledge ... so 
that the programs can come to an end if indeed the evils of trade and the 
evils of cultivation are not curtailed."

According to a survey last year opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan 
reached an unprecedented level of approximately 130,000 hectares.

Although bad weather and plant diseases have significantly reduced the 
opium yield, the total output was about 4,200 tons, making it the second 
largest opium harvest in Afghanistan's history, the statement said.

With this, Afghanistan's share in the global opiate market has further 
increased, now accounting for about 87 percent of the world's illicit opium 
production, it said.

Costa, who also met with senior government ministers, heads of UN agencies 
and representatives of donor countries, leaves Kabul Sunday and will be in 
Colombia next week.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager