26 February 2002
Afghanistan Needs Help to Cut Heroin Production
(International Narcotics Control Board says poppies starting to grow)
(1080)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- For more than ten years Afghanistan had been the
world's largest producer of illicit heroin and the international
community must act now to help the Karzai Interim Administration and
the new Afghanistan break the cycle of illicit drug production, a
member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said
February 26.
Introducing the International Narcotics Control Board Report 2001,
Ambassador Herbert Okun, the U.S. member of the INCB, said that while
a devastating drought and the events after September 11 disrupted
heroin production "Afghanistan clearly has the capacity to become
again the world's largest producer of heroin."
The International Narcotics Control Board has been very active since
November 2001 in calling the attention of governments, particularly
the Security Council, to the need to help Afghan farmers do other
things rather than grow opium poppies, Okun said at a press conference
at U.N. headquarters.
Under the Taliban, heroin production "clearly flourished," Okun said.
"Another fact to bear in mind: under the Taliban, there was never a
drug seizure in Afghanistan, not one single case of recorded seizure,"
he continued. "Now if you're in a country that is the world's largest
producer of heroin and you have a police force, but, guess what, they
don't seize one kilogram of heroin, I think we're safe in concluding
that this police force is really not interested in seizing heroin.
They were very complicit in this business."
In contrast, Okun pointed out, "Iran fights the drug problem fiercely
and has for a very long time. Eighty percent of the world's seizures
of poppies and 90 percent of heroin are made in Iran. The overwhelming
number of seizures are made by Iran because a lot of the trafficking
goes west through Iran."
The INCB pressed both the Northern Alliance and the Taliban to do more
to stop opium production and seize shipments meeting with officials in
1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. In fact, in early September 2001 INCB
President Hamid Ghodse and some INCB members were in Kabul criticizing
the Taliban authorities once again.
In 2000, the INC warned the Taliban that they would take action to
have Afghanistan removed from the 1961 Drug Treaty regime, Okun said.
"Two months after we notified them the Taliban issued a fatwah saying
we're banning the cultivation of opium, meanwhile sitting on
five-year's supply of heroin."
"They had to do it to look good to the board and production went down
about 10 percent," he said. "The worse drought in 30 years also helped
reduce production. Needless to say...(Taliban) earned good press in
2000 with the fatwah, but it was a 'con job' and the drought did their
work for them."
With the new situation in Afghanistan, the INCB has been pressing the
United Nations and the Security Council to take action. Board
President Ghodse and Okun met with Security Council President for
February, Mexican Ambassador Adolfo Zinser, and suggested that a
resolution be adopted urging Afghanistan, as a signatory to the Single
Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, to live up to its agreement.
They said that the international community should and must help the
government of Afghanistan.
"We need to wean the peasants of Afghanistan away from growing the
opium poppy. So crop substitution will be required and it has to be
serious, it has to be sustained and we hope it will happen soon," Okun
said.
"This is not an issue that people argue about," he added. "This is not
controversial. The developed countries, the developing countries, the
countries in the region have an interest in Afghanistan's not resuming
its place at the head of the list of heroin growers."
Although 90 percent of Afghan heroin goes to Europe, Okun said, "it is
not simply the Europeans who want to see Afghan production stopped.
Increasing amounts of Afghan heroin goes to Russia and the
neighborhood is seriously destabilized -- both Iran and Pakistan have
very serious addiction problems because of their proximity to
Afghanistan."
"For all of these reasons, it is a problem that clearly involves the
maintenance of international peace and security," Okun said
The Karzai Administration issued a ban on opium poppy cultivation in
January, but it has not been effective, Okun said. There are already
reports that poppy fields are beginning to bloom all over Afghanistan
and will be ready for harvesting in the Spring.
"It is not (Karzai's) fault because the farmers do need to grow
something," he said. "This means we need serious crop substitution and
a lot of help from the international community to help the peasants."
"Even if the ban were effective and the farmers chose to go hungry
rather than grow the poppies, another problem is the huge supply of
heroin that was being held by the Taliban regime," Okun said.
The INCB has estimated that the Taliban held a three- to six-year
supply of heroin, some of which "has been unloaded since the war began
and plenty of it is still there," he said.
"So the problem is a very real -- both the growing and supply of
heroin," Okun said.
Each year the INCB issues a wide-ranging report -- often referred to
as a report on the "state of the world's drug situation" -- detailing
national and international drug control issues from the lack of
painkillers to help cancer patients in developing countries to cocaine
trafficking. The Annual Report 2001, released February 27, 2002,
highlights the dangers that globalization and new technology pose in
fighting drugs. It also includes country-by-country highlights on
illicit production and trafficking.
In its report, the board also expressed concern that that because of
the military events in Afghanistan after September 11, opium poppy
cultivation may emerge elsewhere in West Asia. "Governments of
countries in the region should remain extremely vigilant in order to
prevent such a development," the report said.
"The smuggling of opiates in West Asia has become more organized,
profitable and violent and is jeopardizing the economic and social
stability of some countries in the region. Therefore, the fight
against drug and chemical trafficking has to continue to be a priority
for governments in the region," the report said.
The availability of heroin originating in Afghanistan remains high in
the region even following the bans and no effects on the availability
of heroin have been observed in countries outside of the region, it
said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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