W gets the Afghan farmer back on his feet...
Afghan opium production hits record high
Monday 09 February 2004, 3:06 Makka Time, 0:06 GMT
Opium output hit a record high in Afghanistan in 2003
with another increase expected this year, a conference
was told on Sunday.
Two years after the Taliban was ousted from power by US-led
forces, opium production has skyrocketed as farmers in lawless
provinces crank up output, threatening efforts to strengthen the
government and establish a proper economy.
"The conference is looking at income alternatives, demand
reduction and law enforcement," said Adam Bouloukos, deputy
representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
UNODC Executive-Director Antonio Maria Costa is scheduled
to speak at the conference on Monday, but was unable to fly into
Kabul on Sunday because a snowstorm closed the airport.
Decades of violence
"We face critical decisions. If we don't start translating
counter-narcotics commitment into lower levels of production,
we run the risk of opium economy undermining all that has been
achieved in creating a democratic new Afghanistan," Costa said
in a statement before leaving for Kabul.
Afghan president
Hamid Karzai has
banned opium
cultivation and
trafficking and
set up the
Counter-Narcotic
Directorate.
But with the
country and
international
donors still scrambling to build an infrastructure after two decades of violence, opium output has climbed again.
UNODC estimates that Afghan opium production last year hit 3600 tons, up 6% over the previous year, and said
that surveys of farmers show a further increase is likely this year.
Lucrative industry
Afghan output accounts for two-thirds of world opium production, and officials have voiced concern because it is
spreading to areas in the country where it has not been grown before.
UNODC has estimated that the output could be worth $2.3 billion, compared to Afghanistan's official exports of
$40 million to its neighbour Pakistan.
Costa praised Afghanistan for setting up its first counter-narcotics institutions and passing counter-narcotics laws
but said more needed to be done.
"These institutions and laws now need to reach opium-growing areas. This needs to be complemented by much
better focused efforts to replace deeply rooted opium economy with sustainable alternative livelihood for Afghan
farmers," he said.
Critical report
"The fight against terrorism will be more effective if drug trafficking is interrupted. There is a mounting evidence
of drug money being used to finance criminal activities, including terrorism," Costa said.
The official's remarks come after the recent publication of a Human Rights Watch report on Afghanistan, which
documented how opium production had exploded in the country.
The rights organisation said in the absence of the Taliban, which in
some years managed to stop nearly all poppy production, the
industry is generating billions of dollars for forces outside the
control of any legitimate authority.
"Much of this trade and the money it generates is under the control,
or at least the influence, of various major and minor military
commanders, who use this money to increase their military
capability and gain independence from the central government and
any international troops working with them," wrote report
author Sam Zia-Zarifi.
US 'irresponsibility'
However, HRW said these problems could have been avoided had the US and the international community acted
more responsibly.
"Farmers who have waited futilely for agricultural assistance from the central government or the international
community have turned to poppy cultivation," said the report.
"As a result, Afghanistan has regained its position as the world’s leading producer of heroin."
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