Poppies and guns still sprout in Afghanistan
US faces dilemma of how to cut off opium trade that funds warlords and Taliban insurgents.
Only in Afghanistan is the prospect of spring planting a bad thing.
After 25 years of war and six straight years of drought, opium poppies again appear to be almost the only crop going in the ground in this agriculture-based economy.
Cheap, abundant opium is the harvest that is processed into heroin to be sold on the streets of Europe and the US. And that puts cash in the hands of drug-trafficking middlemen - tribal warlords and Taliban insurgents.
A
bumper opium crop in Afghanistan, editorializes Pakistan's
Daily Times, could "neutralize much good that [President Hamid] Karzai plans to do for his country."
It would result in a huge informal economy that would not let Afghanistan's formal economy take off by impacting Kabul's revenues; it would increase smuggling, enhance the power of local chieftains and, in many cases, the warlords, sustain gun-running, reduce security overall and, if nothing is done, sabotage the entire effort to install a central [government] edifice. Both American and British officials realize there is a
need for a crackdown on poppy production, reports the
Financial Times (FT).
[But these officials] continue to wrestle with the question of how best to beat an industry that employs 2.3 million Afghans and earned $2.8 billion last year, equivalent to about 60 percent of Afghanistan's legal gross domestic product.
[They] concede nothing can compete economically with the lucrative crop, which yielded about $4,600 per hectare last year, according to United Nations estimates - more than 10 times the income from wheat.
A
delicate balance must be struck by the Afghan Interior Ministry between using carrots and sticks in reducing poppy plantings, writes the
PakTribune.
Unfortunately, "delicate" is a word that seems to have little resonance in the villages and valleys of Afghanistan.
Ask an Afghan farmer what he most wants and the "
answer will be rain," writes Andrew North for the
BBC. "The drought is one reason - among many others - why so many farmers still grow opium poppy. The plant requires less water than other crops," says Mr. North.
"Western officials worry that aggressive eradication would ruin the local economy and prompt violence," says the
PakTribune.
Use of US and NATO-led forces in eradicating poppy files would be seen negatively by locals, says the
Tribune.
US commanders fear that villagers will stop giving support and tips about insurgent activity if American soldiers begin interfering with their biggest source of income. For the Bush administration, the military's role in the drug war is one of the most contentious issues it faces in the region.
With the January planting season approaching, the State Department is asking Congress to earmark nearly $780 million in aid to Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, for a counter-narcotics effort that would include $152 million for aerial eradication, says
FT.
Policy
battle lines are forming over how to stem poppy plantings this spring. Pentagon and State Department civilians are on one side; the uniformed military leadership, especially officers on the ground in Afghanistan, are on the other, reports the
Washington Times.
Essentially, the Pentagon opposes becoming involved in counter-narcotics efforts because it sees such involvement as "mission creep" that distracts from the military's main job of battling insurgents, writes the
Times.
The military leadership has a more tactile and immediate sense of developments in Afghanistan, and their opinion should be carefully heeded by Washington policy-makers. But poppies aren't the only thing that needs eradication. There's the continuing problem of ammunition stockpiles.
Huge amounts of ammunition are thought to be with local commanders and large militia forces, and at ex-military bases and private stockpiles throughout Afghanistan, reports
Reuters.
With many rural Afghan areas still under the rule of the gun, the existence of such quantities of ammunition creates the danger of further conflicts and threatens the rehabilitation process in the country. Like farmers unwilling to stop harvesting poppies, "many ... commanders are still holding onto their best weapons," says the
BBC's North.
Also...
•
In Afghanistan, roses bloom almost all year (
Agence France Presse)
•
Marine snipers disrupt insurgent activity in Afghanistan (
American Forces Information Services)
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Jim Bencivenga
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