IRIN
AFGHANISTAN: UN highlights massive increase in opium cultivation as the
   US announces major commitment
19 November 2004


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 19 November (IRIN) - Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has
increased by two-thirds, reaching an unprecedented 131,000 hectares, a new
survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) revealed on
Thursday.

The survey also said that poppy cultivation spread to all 32 provinces of
the country, making narcotics the main engine of economic growth and the
strongest bond among previously quarrelsome populations.

Despite the increased cultivation, the survey shows that bad weather and
disease had lowered opium yield per hectare, resulting in output of 4,200
mt, an increase of only 17 percent. While in 2003 opium output was
estimated at 3,600 mt per hectare.

The new finding indicates that Afghanistan will have produced about 87
percent of the world's illicit opium output in 2004.

"The drug problem in Afghanistan has been allowed to become ever more
serious. If it persists, the political and military successes of the last
three years will be lost," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of
UNODC.

According to UNODC, the Afghan opium economy is valued at US $2.8 billion,
equivalent to about 60 percent of Afghanistan's 2003 GDP.  Meanwhile, the
number of families involved in opium poppy cultivation was estimated to be
356,000 in 2004, a 35 percent increase on the year.

Costa alerted that with the growing amount of narco-money available to
fund terrorism in Afghanistan along well-known trails across neighbouring
countries, "the international community must commit to commensurate
initiatives to support the Afghan government's counter-narcotic drive."

The massive increase is bad news for the three governments, namely
Afghanistan, the UK and the US with most at stake in the issue. For London
it is an embarrassment. Having taken the international lead on the issue
two years ago, the UK is one of the world's largest per capita consumers
of heroin, where 95 percent of the drug found on the streets comes from
Afghanistan.

For the new administration of Hamid Karzai, the first democratically
mandated president in Afghanistan, the opium poppy threatens its very
existence.

"Looking to the extent of the cultivation, this is alarming and if we
don't control it in 2005 it will be a disaster," Mirwais Yasini, head of
the Afghan Counter Narcotics Directorate (CND), told IRIN following the
release of the survey.

The Afghan government blames a lack of coordination in counter-narcotics
efforts, saying it caused this year's "massive" increase. "The reason our
efforts were not very fruitful is that there was no coordination, number
one among the international community, the government and the
organisations dealing with it," Yasini maintained.

Just one day prior to the UNODC survey, the US government announced a
major new offensive against drug production in Afghanistan. Washington
expects to spend an extra $780 million in the next financial year on
measures including eradication of poppy fields and providing alternative
livelihoods for farmers.

"In fact, $780 million from the US and couple of hundred million pounds
from the UK is considerable assistance and that shows their strong
commitment to counter-narcotics activities in Afghanistan," Yasini said.

Currently, 6.5 million people of the country's estimated 25 million
population are said to be living in food insecurity and threatened by
starvation. Yasini believes there is a lack of alternative livelihoods,
which has impeded their efforts to tackle drug problems properly.

"It is very very difficult, if you don't give them [farmers] alternatives
it would be very cruel just to get rid of opium in Afghanistan because
farmers have depended on it for three decades," Yasini pointed. "This is a
multi-dimensional war in Afghanistan and we have to fight it form all the
dimensions."

However, to do so requires a strong military force which the Afghan
government simply does not have. Yasini expects the US-led Coalition
forces to be directly engaged in this issue.

But elements in the US military are less keen than their political masters
to go after drug lords, most of whom since 11 September have been nominal
allies in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "What we
are expecting from the Coalition is that they would become more engaged in
counter-narcotics activities," said Yasini.

Confirming that key government figures including top counter-narcotics
officials were involved in drug business in Afghanistan, Yasini said only
poor farmers or low-profile dealers were prosecuted.

"I totally agree that there have been no big mafia cases [discovered or
arrested]. We have neither arrested any major trafficker nor have we
removed any government official," he conceded. He urged the new government
to take a hard line on those involved whoever they were - governors,
military commanders, generals and high-ranking officials.

Yasini expressed hope that with the new US commitment, which has counted
the poppy cultivation as a primary concern of the country, there will be
major achievements next year.  "We are determined and next year,
hopefully, this [negative scenario] will not be the case."


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