Afghanistan Anti-Drug Policies Aid Taliban, Says Report
Thursday, September 7, 2006
drugpolicy.org
A new report (PDF) by the Senlis Council, a U.K. think tank, finds that counter-narcotics policies in Afghanistan over the last five years have facilitated insurgency, laying the groundwork for the Taliban to return to power. The report says that the internationally backed strategy of poppy eradication has undermined the stability of the government and driven the country further into poverty.
Poppy eradication has failed to reduce the amount of production in Afghanistan, with poppy cultivation currently at its highest level in recent history. In 2006, about 165,000 hectares are devoted to growing poppy, compared to under 60,000 hectares in 1996.
Much of rural Afghanistan is deeply impoverished, and poppy farming is the only viable source of income for many farmers. Without alternative means of livelihood, farmers are unable to give up growing poppy. Therefore, eradication does not actually do away with poppy farming, but leads to its relocation to more remote areas. There is no end in sight for this pattern--only three percent of Afghanistan's irrigated land is currently used for poppy farming, but much of the country is well-suited for it.
Not only does this approach fail to reduce growth of illicit crops, but it also damages rural economies, having the greatest negative impact on the farmers who benefit least from the opium trade.
According to the Senlis Council, impoverished farmers whose livelihoods are attacked by eradication tend to view counter-narcotics operations as a war on Afghans, rather than a war on drugs. In addition, some Afghans who were promised money in exchange for cooperation with crop eradication have not received any compensation. This has led to distrust of foreigners as well as loss of confidence in the Karzai administration. Many farmers are now turning to the Taliban for crop protection.
In order to combat this destabilization and set Afghanistan on the path to reconstruction, the Senlis Council calls for sustainable and competitive alternatives to poppy farming, combined with an immediate halt to crop eradication. An agreement signed in early 2006 called for a policy of "sequenced" eradication, in which eradication was only supposed to take place in areas that had established alternative livelihoods. However, the report cites evidence that this policy is not being followed.
The Senlis Council suggests moving Afghanistan towards controlled, licensed poppy production for use in making opium-based medicines. The report points to a dramatic global shortage of opium-based medicines for pain management in illnesses such as AIDS, particularly in developing countries. Turkey successfully used licensing in the early 1980s to bring its widespread poppy cultivation under control, and could serve as a model for Afghanistan.
The report calls for this shift in strategy immediately, saying that eliminating poverty and providing alternative, legal means of livelihood for Afghan farmers are necessary to pave the way for true nation-building in Afghanistan. |
