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| Surge in Afghan Poppy Crop Is Forecast |
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Posted by FoM on December 24, 2001 at 21:30:10 PT By Marc Kaufman, Washington Post Staff Writer Source: Washington Post 
International drug control authorities believe that opium poppy production in Afghanistan will increase dramatically next year, and are debating whether to pay or force growers to destroy their spring crops.Afghan officials said that controlling opium farming is one of newly installed leader Hamid Karzai's top three priorities, and a senior U.S. official said it is now a "major, front-burner" issue for the Bush administration. But officials agree it will be difficult to stop opium growing, particularly in sections of the country where the new government has limited authority -- such as Helmand province, the world's most productive poppy-growing region and a Taliban stronghold. "Afghans leaving the country have reported that farmers are going back to poppy cultivation," said Mohammed Amirkhizi, a senior policy adviser in the U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention in Vienna. He said the United Nations has not been able to verify the extent of poppy farming, but that "our expectation is that production will go back up to [the level of] previous years. The international community is extremely concerned." Two years ago, Afghanistan produced more than 70 percent of the world's opium, which is used to make heroin. But the Taliban banned poppy farming last year -- whether the goal was to halt the business in response to international pressure or to drive up prices remains unclear -- and this spring's crop dropped by more than 90 percent. Now, the expectation that poppy production will skyrocket has set off an international battle over how to respond. While some experts advocate a one-time buyback of the spring crop, others want to rely primarily on law enforcement. All seem to agree that in addition to punishing regions where poppy growing continues, international donors should reward regions that fight opium production, providing them with generous funds for economic development. The new Afghan government is committed under an agreement negotiated in Bonn this month to work aggressively to eliminate poppy growing, but officials say it will take time. Not only is opium the largest cash crop in the country, but many farmers rely on loans from drug traffickers to pay for their fall planting and survive through the winter. Because the poppies were planted in October and November, the farmers have already taken those loans and will have no way to repay them if they don't harvest their fields. The Washington representative of the Afghan government, Haron Amin, said last week that he expected Karzai to announce a renewed ban on poppy growing immediately, but Karzai did not mention it when he was sworn in on Saturday. Other drug control officials said the new prohibition was still under negotiation. With the change in government in Afghanistan, some senior Bush administration officials have proposed a one-time buyback of opium as an emergency measure. However, a U.S. official involved with the issue said the idea met stiff opposition at international meetings on Afghan opium. He said many officials wanted to rely on law enforcement and on pressuring growers to destroy their crops. "We are not considering any kind of a buyback, and no illicit crop subsidies," said the U.S. official, who argued that paying for drugs -- even to destroy them -- could set a dangerous precedent. "We think that is dead on arrival in terms of international cooperation," he said. While the United Nations and the United States have agreed in principle to provide billions of dollars to rebuild Afghanistan and to help farmers leave the poppy-growing business, that assistance will be long-term and most likely will not be widely available next spring, the official said. Agencies are looking next year to approaches such as reducing the pool of migrant labor available to harvest the poppies and extract the opium by providing laborers with jobs on road construction and other public works programs. But others believe more unconventional approaches will be needed in the spring if the poppy crop is as large as expected. Knut Ostby, the U.N. Development Program's representative in Afghanistan, said that his agency and others tried for years to encourage Afghan poppy farmers to grow other crops through economic incentives, but that it was only the strict Taliban prohibition that worked. "Some form of compensation seems to be the only way to take care of next year's crop," Ostby said. "To have farmers otherwise not harvest their crop would be very difficult for them, and unlikely to work." A one-time buyback would be risky because it could encourage farmers to grow poppies in the future, he said. "But the reality is, there are not so many other options right now." Poul Nielson, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, supported the opium buyback idea last week. At a Brussels meeting of donors aiding Afghan reconstruction, he said, "We may well have to compensate for the loss, or some of the loss, of farmers' incomes as they transfer to other crops instead of poppy." At the height of poppy cultivation in the late 1990s, Afghanistan produced more than 2,000 tons of raw opium annually, according to U.N. estimates. After the Taliban poppy growing ban, the figure dropped to about 185 tons this year. U.N. officials report that before the Taliban's anti-opium edict, about half of all Afghan opium came from the irrigated fields of Helmand province in the south -- not a remote or hidden area, but rather some of the country's best and most accessible farmland. Much of the rest came from the eastern provinces of Kandahar and Nangahar. And a small but increasing amount has been grown in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, under the control of the Northern Alliance. International drug control officials worry that Helmand, in particular, has once again become a center for poppy growing. The new government does not have complete control of the area -- the main road that runs through Helmand on the way to Kandahar and Herat is often described as being among the most dangerous in Afghanistan -- and top Taliban officials are still reported to be in the region. Although the Taliban was effective in greatly reducing poppy planting, many officials believe the leadership maintained stockpiles of opium and used the ban to limit the supply and increase the drug's value. Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers said earlier this month that the Taliban did not ban opium farming "out of kindness, but because they wanted to regulate the market: They simply produced too much opium." Afghanistan's opium has generally been sold as heroin to the European black market, officials said, but it has also led to a steep increase in addiction in neighboring Pakistan and Iran. A State Department official said there were clear signs that drug traffickers have been making plans to maintain their Afghan supplies and trafficking routes. "These people have had several months to devise new ways to protect their business, and we believe they have been very busy with it," the official said. Note: World Drug Control Authorities Consider Force and Funds to Limit Production. Source: Washington Post (DC) Related Articles: Opium Farmers Return to Their Only Cash Crop Time Running Out in The Opium War A War on Terror Meets a War on Drugs Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #2 posted by p4me on December 25, 2001 at 09:11:34 PT |
| Here is an excellent chance for the US Government to get some free land and extend asset forfeiture across the globe. Then the US can own the land and have the prisoners grow the opium and sell it to the US pill companies. This will ensure a bumper crop of political donations in the nest elections. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by Jose Melendez on December 25, 2001 at 05:04:10 PT:
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...many officials believe the leadership maintained stockpiles of opium and used the ban to limit the supply and increase the drug's value. Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers said earlier this month that the Taliban did not ban opium farming "out of kindness, but because they wanted to regulate the market: They simply produced too much opium." I am increasingly of the opinion that prohibitionists knew this to be true of marijuana, as it was for alcohol in the 20's. The difference: cannabis does not kill, therefore the arguments against its prohibition did not yield the deadly evidence that proved policies against alcohol were flawed. Marijuana is illegal because it is safe, effective and tasty in soup. [ Post Comment ] |
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