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2 AFGHANISTAN'S HIGHWAY TO
HELL The Taliban's flower
power By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KABUL - Western officials involved in
counter-narcotics operations in Afghanistan
estimate that this year the country will produce
its biggest poppy crop in history.
Nevertheless, Taliban-dominated Helmand
province, which contributes a major chunk in poppy
cultivation, houses drug-processing labs and
serves as a main route for trafficking and
transportation, will be
largely spared anti-narcotics operations.
In Helmand, the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) will be preoccupied with
an expected major Taliban offensive come spring,
rather than with drug-eradication programs.
The United Nations estimates that
Afghanistan's opium production jumped by nearly
50% in 2006 to a record 6,100 tonnes to supply
more than 90% of the world's heroin. About a third
of the country's economy was based on opium last
year. Of the 164,700 hectares of poppies that were
cultivated in 2006, 70,000 hectares were in
Helmand province, according to UN figures.
Sitting in a heated room of the British
task force's base in Helmand near the provincial
capital Lashkar Gah, a British anti-narcotics
officer spread a map detailing just what a drug
heaven Helmand is.
"Undoubtedly,
Afghanistan will produce its best bumper poppy
crop ever this year, but there is no shortcut to
control this monster," said the official, who
asked not to be named.
"At least, it will
take three to five years for any significant
reduction, given that development projects are
launched and the people are provided alternative
means of earning a livelihood and if the security
situation is improved."
The official added
that one cannot expect any improvement in the
poppy situation when security is such a problem
and counter-narcotics teams cannot operate freely.
"You need to understand that in Thailand it took
30 years to make counter-narcotics operations
successful," said the official.
The
official said he believed that spraying is not an
option as it can make people and animals ill.
His position was endorsed last week by
President Hamid Karzai, who, despite months of US
pressure, decided against using herbicides - in
this case glyphosate - to spray heroin-producing
poppies. A spokesman for the Ministry of
Counter-Narcotics said that this year the
government will rely on "traditional techniques"
such as sending people into fields to trample or
plow opium poppies before they are harvested.
"Eradication is only possible by forcing
people to eliminate the poppy and grow other
crops," the British official said. "We don't offer
any compensation for poppy elimination. In 2002,
people were offered money to eliminate poppy, and
it played havoc. All the money went into people's
pockets and they did not eliminate poppy
cultivation."
Flower power
Afghanistan has for many years been the
world's hub of poppy cultivation and the narcotics
trade. When the US Central Intelligence Agency
supported the mujahideen resistance against the
Soviets in the 1980s, it turned a blind eye to -
or even actively aided - drug money flowing into
the resistance's coffers.
Drug kingpins
were born, often from Pakistani Pashtun areas, and
their money helped shape the dynamics of
Pakistan's social, religious and political fabric
- some were said to have become members of
Parliament.
When the Taliban came to power
in 1996, they clamped down on poppy cultivation,
at least in the early years before they were
ousted by the US-led invasion in 2001. But now it
is business as never before.
"Five
kilograms of heroin is sold for US$90 in Helmand
province, and the district of Sangeen is the main
hub of narcotic-processing labs," the British
official said. He estimated that there are no
fewer than 150 such laboratories in the area.
About 10 tonnes of opium produces approximately a
tonne of heroin.
"The finished produce of
the Sangeen laboratories is sold on the British
market for anywhere between $120 and $160 per
gram," the official said.
I put it to the
official that the Taliban are not directly
involved in the drug business, other than
receiving "contributions" for providing
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