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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
AFGHANISTAN: UN counter-narcotics chief sees signs of hope in poppy eradication
KABUL, 2 Jun 2005 (IRIN) - Poppy farmers have demonstrated restraint in the cultivation of the lucrative cash crop and the country has made progress in the interdiction of drug supplies in Afghanistan, Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Wednesday at the end of his two day visit to the world's largest poppy growing country.
"We have seen progress in interdiction - some very excellent arrests in the country and outside the country," Costa told IRIN in the capital, Kabul.
Leading poppy growing provinces such as Helmand in the south and Nangarhar in the east have shown a significant reduction in cultivation because farmers have refrained from growing the crop and the eradication efforts of the government, he added. But he was not happy about the eradication efforts in the southern Kandahar province.
"In Kandahar we have had the opposite business. I believe the honesty and integrity of those in charge of the operation is to be examined," said Costa. The head of the UN counter-narcotics agency said that despite the reduction in cultivation and the eradication of poppy fields production might still be significant this year. This was due to better weather conditions following heavier winter rainfall and quite a lot of snow after several years of drought.
"I believe we will not represent a historical record but cannot say if it will be lower or higher than last year," he noted. According to a UNODC report, Afghanistan produced 4,200 mt of opium in 2004, accounting for 87 percent of the world illicit drug supply.
Costa's visit follows criticism by US officials who blamed the Afghan government, mainly president Hamid Karzai, for not doing more on counter-narcotics efforts. Karzai rejected the criticism, saying his government had worked hard to eradicate poppy fields. Instead he blamed the western countries for their lack of support. The Afghan president expected at least a 30 percent reduction in the poppy production in 2005.
"The Afghan people have done their job. Now the international community must come and provide alternative livelihoods to the Afghan people, that they have not done so far," he said in a recent interview with CNN.
Meanwhile, Costa said, eradication efforts could be counterproductive in a fledgling democracy if there were no economic alternatives available to farmers.
"Farmers are the weakest links in the chain. Poverty renders them vulnerable and therefore, their plea for a better life has to be addressed," the UNODC director said. Costa said investing in the judicial system and an improvement in the rule of law was more important than other aspects in fighting against narcotics in post-war Afghanistan.
"The Afghan society is a prisoner of a past where every warlord is still a law onto himself and many officials are corrupt," he said. "In addition to eradicating drug crops, the Afghan government has to impose the rule of law."
To display more serious intent in counter-narcotics efforts, Kabul announced in late May that the country's Afghan Special Narcotics Force (ASNF) had stepped-up operations and destroyed significant amounts of opium poppies in just two major operations.
ASNF's major operation was in Afghanistan's largest drug bazaar in the village of Bahram Shah in southern Helmand province, which borders Pakistan. According to the Afghan ministry of the interior, more than 20 mt of opium was seized in this operation alone.
Though there has been a reduction in cultivation this year, farmers complain they are still awaiting assistance with the establishment of alternative livelihoods. According to the UNODC, alternative livelihood programmes must operate hand-in-hand with large-scale rural development programmes in an effort to eliminate poppy cultivation.
Costa warned that alternative livelihood programmes could not progress until security was boosted in the troubled country where tens of aid workers had been killed in insurgent attacks in the last few months alone. The head of the UN anti-drug agency invited NATO to play a more prominent role in ensuring stability and security in Afghanistan.
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2005
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