When outgoing US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann said that the war on terror in Afghanistan will not be won unless a war on heroin is declared, he only crystallized the growing realization amongst the US and Nato countries that heroin cultivation is a growing threat.
Six months back, Anne Patterson, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs had said, “Stopping the cultivation and traffic of opium is paramount in establishing rule of law in Afghanistan.”
90% of world heroin comes from Afghanistan. It is a $3.1 billion business and a big part of the drug money goes to Taliban coffers, who in turn protect and tax the poppy farmers.
Nearly 50% of Afghan heroin is grown in the southern Helmand province, where the Taliban holds sway. According to US government estimates there has been a 132% increase in poppy yield in 2006 in Helmand and Oruzgan provinces compared to 2005 figures.
According to Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan’s deputy minister for counter-narcotics:
The problem is a lack of security, a lack of governance, the Taliban, druglords, warlords and corruption.
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] will stress on detection of drug convoys and increased co-operation in intelligence gathering. Thomas Schweich, a senior state department official says he has informed NATO countries and General Dan Macneill, top Nato general in Afghanistan, of the urgency in dealing with the drug problem.
The US has called in William Wood as the new envoy to Afghanistan. He has a reputation of eradicating coca fields in Colombia. It wants the same done here. But Afghan government minsters have misgivings about spraying poppy fields with pesticide, both on ground and aerially, fearing adverse effects on other legitimate crops and livestock. But recent reports suggest president Hamid Karzai is veering around to the need of such action.
