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Karzai, Bush, Pledges to Reduce Afghan Poppy up in Smoke
By Sherwood Ross
Created Jul 9 2007 - 8:47am
Just a little over two years ago, at a White House press conference on May
23, 2005, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan said his country's poppy
crop was shrinking and, "if this trend continues, we'll have no poppies,
hopefully, in Afghanistan in another five or six years."
"That's a promise we have given to the world and to the Afghan people,"
Karzai added, "and that's a promise that we will deliver on. Hold us
accountable on that." President Bush chimed in that President Karzai was
"very forthcoming" about the desire to eradicate the poppy, the raw
ingredient of heroin.
Yet, far from reducing, much less eradicating, the poppy crop, and in
defiance of U.S. and NATO military pressure, Afghan farmers planted about
400,000 acres of opium poppies last year, a 59% increase over 2005, while
the war swirling around the opium harvest has also grown--- in intensity.
Seems the Bush-Karzai promises have gone up in smoke.
According to author Jon Lee Anderson in the July 9th "The New Yorker"
magazine, "The debilitating and corrupting effects of the opium trade on the
government of President Karzai is a significant factor in the Taliban's
revival." Another factor aiding the Taliban is the rise in U.S. and NATO air
strikes. Reuters reported July 7th that in Farah province the district
leader lamented an air attack in Bala Boluk that killed 108 civilians.
Reuters said, "Western unwillingness to accept casualties among their own
soldiers and a shortage of ground troops means commanders often turn to air
power to beat the Taliban, and that almost inevitably leads to civilian
deaths."
The situation in Afghanistan is reminiscent of U.S. and British air strikes
against Nazi targets in occupied France during World War II. These killed
an estimated 70,000 French civilians, so many the Nazis put up posters of a
smirking President Roosevelt dropping bombs on a small French girl clutching
a doll. The French resistance begged to be allowed to take out German
targets from the ground.
Anderson writes, "Karzai has complained publicly about the civilian deaths,
but he is dependent on the foreign forces to prop him up." Presently, 35,000
troops from 37 countries, about half of them American, are fighting under
the NATO banner, with 8,000 more U.S. soldiers under Pentagon command.
Despite this support, "Karzai seems isolated and weak, and his authority
barely extends beyond the capital," Anderson says.
"People are getting very angry with Karzai," Soona Niloofar, a member of
Afghan's parliament was quoted as stating. "At the beginning of the year, he
promised to sack the governors where opium is grown. Nothing has been done."
One governor, Abdul Hakim Munib of Uruzgan province, has poppy fields
growing within sight of his palace.
Dissuading farmers from planting poppies is tough. One farmer told Anderson
a four-kilo package of opium from a half acre brings him 21,000 Pakistani
rupees compared with 1,000 rupees for wheat.
The poppy eradication ops, Anderson writes, "tend to set up confrontations
between armed men and poor farmers" who do not want their lucrative crops
chopped down. Eradication is also time-consuming and, as a top-ranking UN
official in Afghanistan said, "The per-acre cost of forced eradication is
also excruciatingly high." The job is done by ATV's that drive across the
fields dragging metal bars behind them that knock down the poppies.
The UN official, Chris Anderson, added, "The Taliban have partnered in
intimate ways with the drug networks over the past two years. Their alliance
deserves to be exposed for the opportunism and criminality it represents."
In Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, he said, eradication has been subject to
political manipulation and corruption and has proved to be virtually
impossible in districts where the Taliban is strong. This seemed to be
confirmed when a poppy-eradication squad Anderson was accompanying got into
a firefight in which 20 were killed.
Douglas Wankel, an American who helped create an Afghan Eradication Force
using Afghani fighters and U.S. contractors from Virginia's private DynCorp
firm, said, "We're not able to destroy all the poppy---that's not the point.
What we're trying to do is lend an element of threat and risk to the
farmers' calculations, so they won't plant next year." Wankel said it was
premature to judge the eradication program by the poppy cultivation figures
as his effort is just getting off the ground.
"Distracted by Iraq, the U.S. only belatedly began serious counter-narcotics
and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan," Anderson says. In the vacuum,
the Taliban returned, and most foreign experts and Afghan officials Anderson
spoke with said Taliban holds the initiative.
One of Wankel's mercenaries described the Afghan war as "redneck heaven." He
explained, "You get to run around the desert on A.T.V.s and pickups, shoot
guns, and get paid for it. Man, it's the perfect job." DynCorp men said they
became contractors because the pay was much higher than civilian jobs back
in the States. That's the same reason Afghan farmers give for growing
poppies instead of wheat. Drug running in the past has also been a source of
illicit cash for the CIA, which can spend as it pleases without
Congressional oversight.
Since heroin users seem to be able to get their supply come what may, why
not just legalize its use in America as well as its production in
Afghanistan? That way, heroin could be brought in legally, taking the profit
out of smuggling. Decriminalizing drug addiction in the U.S. would also
empty hundreds of thousands of prison cells, at a great savings to
taxpayers, and switch the emphasis from incarceration to drug treatment.
Over time, this might also reduce USA's high crime rate, much of it
committed by addicts to buy heroin. Finally, Afghan farmers could make a
buck off their crops and the shooting in the poppy fields might subside. The
only losers in this scheme might be some "rednecks" cheated out of their
unique "shoot guns" fix. Maybe Dick Cheney will take them hunting.
_______
About author Sherwood Ross is an American reporter who has worked for major
American newspapers and magazines as well as international wire services. To
comment on this article or arrange for speaking engagements:
sherwoodr1@yahoo.com [1]
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Sherwood Ross
Created Jul 9 2007 - 8:47am
Just a little over two years ago, at a White House press conference on May
23, 2005, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan said his country's poppy
crop was shrinking and, "if this trend continues, we'll have no poppies,
hopefully, in Afghanistan in another five or six years."
"That's a promise we have given to the world and to the Afghan people,"
Karzai added, "and that's a promise that we will deliver on. Hold us
accountable on that." President Bush chimed in that President Karzai was
"very forthcoming" about the desire to eradicate the poppy, the raw
ingredient of heroin.
Yet, far from reducing, much less eradicating, the poppy crop, and in
defiance of U.S. and NATO military pressure, Afghan farmers planted about
400,000 acres of opium poppies last year, a 59% increase over 2005, while
the war swirling around the opium harvest has also grown--- in intensity.
Seems the Bush-Karzai promises have gone up in smoke.
According to author Jon Lee Anderson in the July 9th "The New Yorker"
magazine, "The debilitating and corrupting effects of the opium trade on the
government of President Karzai is a significant factor in the Taliban's
revival." Another factor aiding the Taliban is the rise in U.S. and NATO air
strikes. Reuters reported July 7th that in Farah province the district
leader lamented an air attack in Bala Boluk that killed 108 civilians.
Reuters said, "Western unwillingness to accept casualties among their own
soldiers and a shortage of ground troops means commanders often turn to air
power to beat the Taliban, and that almost inevitably leads to civilian
deaths."
The situation in Afghanistan is reminiscent of U.S. and British air strikes
against Nazi targets in occupied France during World War II. These killed
an estimated 70,000 French civilians, so many the Nazis put up posters of a
smirking President Roosevelt dropping bombs on a small French girl clutching
a doll. The French resistance begged to be allowed to take out German
targets from the ground.
Anderson writes, "Karzai has complained publicly about the civilian deaths,
but he is dependent on the foreign forces to prop him up." Presently, 35,000
troops from 37 countries, about half of them American, are fighting under
the NATO banner, with 8,000 more U.S. soldiers under Pentagon command.
Despite this support, "Karzai seems isolated and weak, and his authority
barely extends beyond the capital," Anderson says.
"People are getting very angry with Karzai," Soona Niloofar, a member of
Afghan's parliament was quoted as stating. "At the beginning of the year, he
promised to sack the governors where opium is grown. Nothing has been done."
One governor, Abdul Hakim Munib of Uruzgan province, has poppy fields
growing within sight of his palace.
Dissuading farmers from planting poppies is tough. One farmer told Anderson
a four-kilo package of opium from a half acre brings him 21,000 Pakistani
rupees compared with 1,000 rupees for wheat.
The poppy eradication ops, Anderson writes, "tend to set up confrontations
between armed men and poor farmers" who do not want their lucrative crops
chopped down. Eradication is also time-consuming and, as a top-ranking UN
official in Afghanistan said, "The per-acre cost of forced eradication is
also excruciatingly high." The job is done by ATV's that drive across the
fields dragging metal bars behind them that knock down the poppies.
The UN official, Chris Anderson, added, "The Taliban have partnered in
intimate ways with the drug networks over the past two years. Their alliance
deserves to be exposed for the opportunism and criminality it represents."
In Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, he said, eradication has been subject to
political manipulation and corruption and has proved to be virtually
impossible in districts where the Taliban is strong. This seemed to be
confirmed when a poppy-eradication squad Anderson was accompanying got into
a firefight in which 20 were killed.
Douglas Wankel, an American who helped create an Afghan Eradication Force
using Afghani fighters and U.S. contractors from Virginia's private DynCorp
firm, said, "We're not able to destroy all the poppy---that's not the point.
What we're trying to do is lend an element of threat and risk to the
farmers' calculations, so they won't plant next year." Wankel said it was
premature to judge the eradication program by the poppy cultivation figures
as his effort is just getting off the ground.
"Distracted by Iraq, the U.S. only belatedly began serious counter-narcotics
and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan," Anderson says. In the vacuum,
the Taliban returned, and most foreign experts and Afghan officials Anderson
spoke with said Taliban holds the initiative.
One of Wankel's mercenaries described the Afghan war as "redneck heaven." He
explained, "You get to run around the desert on A.T.V.s and pickups, shoot
guns, and get paid for it. Man, it's the perfect job." DynCorp men said they
became contractors because the pay was much higher than civilian jobs back
in the States. That's the same reason Afghan farmers give for growing
poppies instead of wheat. Drug running in the past has also been a source of
illicit cash for the CIA, which can spend as it pleases without
Congressional oversight.
Since heroin users seem to be able to get their supply come what may, why
not just legalize its use in America as well as its production in
Afghanistan? That way, heroin could be brought in legally, taking the profit
out of smuggling. Decriminalizing drug addiction in the U.S. would also
empty hundreds of thousands of prison cells, at a great savings to
taxpayers, and switch the emphasis from incarceration to drug treatment.
Over time, this might also reduce USA's high crime rate, much of it
committed by addicts to buy heroin. Finally, Afghan farmers could make a
buck off their crops and the shooting in the poppy fields might subside. The
only losers in this scheme might be some "rednecks" cheated out of their
unique "shoot guns" fix. Maybe Dick Cheney will take them hunting.
_______
About author Sherwood Ross is an American reporter who has worked for major
American newspapers and magazines as well as international wire services. To
comment on this article or arrange for speaking engagements:
sherwoodr1@yahoo.com [1]
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
