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U.S. Supports Efforts of Afghan Government To Eradicate Opium

18 April 2006

Drugs, corruption could hinder democratic process, says Rumsfeld

By David I. McKeeby
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – The United States strongly supports efforts by Afghanistan’s elected government and its allies to curb drug trafficking, says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“The pull of narcotics is powerful, and the money that comes from the narcotics trade is enormous, and it is a risk to Afghanistan,” Rumsfeld told journalists at an April 18 Pentagon press briefing.

Historically a regional agricultural center, Afghanistan now produces 90 percent of the world’s opium, most of which is used to manufacture heroin and other illegal narcotics, according to the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL). 

Drug trafficking was a major source of income to various militant factions during 30 years of civil conflict in Afghanistan, and is now a major security challenge for the democratically elected government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. 

Rumsfeld noted that Afghanistan is still a poor country and the corruption that surrounds drug trafficking could adversely affect the democratic process there. 

Under the Bonn Agreement – the blueprint for reconstructing Afghanistan after the Taliban was removed from power -- the United Kingdom leads allied efforts to assist the Afghan government in opium eradication.  (See related article.)

Rumsfeld said that several U.S. government agencies actively support these efforts, including the State Department, the Defense Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

In recent congressional testimony, INL Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas A. Schweich reported that the 2005 opium harvest was valued at $2.7 billion, with approximately 80 percent of profits going directly to drug-trafficking networks without benefiting local Afghan communities. 

The United States supports the Afghan government’s anti-drug efforts with public information campaigns, incentives for local residents to grow alternate crops, technical assistance with opium eradication and narcotics seizures, and programs to assist the government in strengthening police capabilities and promoting the rule of law.

In his testimony, Schweich said that Afghan authorities seized 42.9 metric tons of opium and 5.5 metric tons of heroin in 2005.

“[Drug trafficking] is a serious problem that they're attending to and we need to assist them in attending to it,” Rumsfeld said.

The full text of Schweich’s prepared testimony before the Middle East and Central Asia Subcommittee and the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on International Relations is available on the State Department Web site.

The transcript of Rumsfeld’s April 18 briefing with Marine General Peter Pace is available on the Defense Department Web site.

For more information, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)