U.S. officials have expressed concern over the growth of the heroin trade in Afghanistan.
De Hoop Scheffer said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan could play a "supporting role" in Afghan efforts to eradicate poppy cultures.
But he said PRTs (provincial reconstruction teams) were not going into the poppy fields to spray.
De Hoop Scheffer, beginning a three-day visit to the United States, met first with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and was to meet later in the day with U.S. President George W. Bush and attend a dinner hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Scheffer also expressed frustration over the failure by NATO-led allied forces to capture elusive former Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
(Reuters/AP)
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NATO Says It Won't Lead Fight Against Afghan Heroin
1 June 2005 -- NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said today that the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan will not take a leading role in eradicating poppies from which heroin is processed.
Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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