Pubdate: Tue, 05 Apr 2005
Source: Daily Times (Pakistan)
Copyright: 2005 Daily Times
Contact:  http://www.dailytimes.com.pk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2893
Author: Khalid Hasan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/opium

AFGHAN OPIUM TRADE A THREAT TO PROGRESS

WASHINGTON - The rise in opium traffic in Afghanistan has been called a
threat to the progress the country has otherwise been making.

A leading article in the New York Times on Tuesday notes that last
year Afghanistan provided an estimated 87 percent of the world's
illegal opium crop. Apart from the damage that opium, transformed into
heroin, inflicts on users worldwide, the trafficking also lines the
pockets of armed militia leaders and corrupt local officials, giving
them the means to resist President Hamid Karzai's efforts to promote
security, development and democracy.

The newspaper views with approval the fact that Washington is "finally
treating the issue with the seriousness it deserves." Finding
effective answers will take time, money and the local Afghan
community's involvement, it points out. Quick fixes, like aerial
spraying, don't permanently solve the problem, and they undermine
efforts to revive the rural economy.

Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries, it adds. "Making
its economy function again and resettling its returning refugees
depend on providing poor farmers with less destructive ways to make a
living than growing opium poppies.

That requires the rebuilding of local roads and irrigation works so
rural industries and alternative crops, like wheat, can become viable.
For many small farmers today, the only available credit comes from
drug traffickers who offer down payments against the next opium
harvest," the editorial states.

For the first three years after the United States invaded Afghanistan,
the newspaper recalls, combating the drug trade was low on
Washington's priority list. The problem was largely left to British
troops, who had neither the numbers nor the financial backing to
handle it successfully.

But now they will be getting some help from the American military,
which previously operated under orders to ignore the drug traffickers,
except for those accidentally encountered during military operations
against the Taliban.

According to the NYT, "Under new rules being finalised by the
Pentagon, American soldiers will be permitted to provide direct
support to anti-narcotics operations. The Defence Department is asking
for a more than fourfold increase in its funds for anti-narcotics work
in Afghanistan.

Just last month, Afghanistan's repeatedly delayed parliamentary
elections were set for September. Unlike last year's presidential
vote, these elections can succeed only if most of the country is
secure and firmly under central authority. Curbing the drug
traffickers' wealth and power is crucial to a successful vote."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin