Report: U.K. Cheated Afghan Poppy Growers

Report by Senlis Council Think Tank on Taliban Support in Afghanistan
By Gareth Harding – UPI

BRUSSELS, March 27 (UPI) — The British government has failed to honor its pledge to compensate Afghani farmers for eradicating poppy crops, causing widespread anger in the volatile south of the country and leading to increased support for Taliban insurgents, a new report by the Senlis Council think tank claims.

Afghanistan is the world’s leading producer of opium. Ninety percent of the heroin found on the streets of Europe and the United States can be traced to poppy crops in the mountains of the war-torn central Asian state.

After the Taliban government was removed by U.S. forces following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Britain was put in charge of the international community’s counter-narcotics effort in Afghanistan. Although thousands of acres of poppies have been destroyed, the former Soviet vassal state now produces more opium than ever.

An Afghan soldier with a rocket destroys poppies in a field west of Kandahar. Taliban rebels determined to keep southern Afghanistan in chaos have teamed up with drug barons against the government and its opium eradication campaign.
AFP/Emmanuel Duparcq

The Senlis Council, a respected international security and development think tank with offices in Kabul, says Britain is to blame for pursuing counter-productive anti-drugs policies that have alienated local farmers and fueled support for Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents in the south of the country.

Based on interviews with farmers in the Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops will arrive over the coming months, the group claims that U.K. counter-narcotics officers promised local farmers $350 for every fifth of a hectare of poppies they destroyed.

“These farmers kept their side of the deal and eradicated their crops, but the British Government did not keep their word,” said Mohammad Gull, a local representative from the Sharwali District in Helmand who was involved in the initial negotiations with the British representatives. “In our culture this is very dishonorable and we are very angry.”

Gull told the Senlis Council he had over 400 checks in his possession which farmers had been unable to cash because of insufficient funds in the account. In total, the farmers allege they are owed $21 million and are planning to sue the British government for the money that was promised them.

Security and Development Policy Group (SENLIS)

HELMAND, Afghanistan (Xinhua) March 27 — A strong advocate of legalizing poppy plantation the Senlis council late last year called on the Afghan government to legalize poppy and use it in pharmaceutical field but the government categorically rejected the suggestion and said it would fight against the contraband till its complete elimination from the society.

The survey conducted by UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) late last year indicated 21 percent drop in producing the contraband in 2005, the agency expects rise in cultivating the menace this year.

Afghanistan with an output of 3,600 tons of opium poppy in 2003, 4,200 tons in 2004 and 4,100 tons in 2005 respectively have topped poppy producing nations in the world.

The country under President Hamid Karzai leadership is striving to reduce poppy cultivation by 75 percent by 2008.

● Karzai doesn’t want U.S. to spray Afghan poppy fields  

Taliban say Afghan offensive is on – 22 dead

Battle at Afghan Military Base Kills 14

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (ABC/AP) March 29 – Militants attacked a coalition forces base in southern Afghanistan, sparking a battle that killed two soldiers — an American and a Canadian — and at least 12 rebels, officials said.

The battle in Helmand province’s Sangin district also wounded three Canadian soldiers, Canadian Brig. Gen. David Fraser told reporters at a base in southern Kandahar city. Helmand is a hotbed of insurgency and center of the booming trade in illegal drugs and has been the scene of some of the deadliest fighting in recent months.

The attack followed separate roadside bombings in the region that killed six Afghan soldiers and four private security workers, respectively. Officials blamed both bombings on Taliban rebels. Suspected Taliban rebels also attacked a police checkpoint in Kandahar city late Tuesday, killing two officers and wounding four, police said.

In today’s incident, coalition troops called in aircraft to attack the militants and together with the forces inside the base “are believed to have killed at least a dozen enemy insurgents,” the U.S. military statement said. But it added the military was still conducting a full assessment of the battle. Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Tata said the troops “defeated a significant enemy element.”

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It was not immediately clear if the violence was linked to Afghanistan’s drug trade. Helmand is Afghanistan’s main opium poppy-growing region and there have been fears of widespread violence since an aggressive poppy eradication campaign started in recent weeks.

Helmand’s rugged mountains are also popular hiding places for Taliban rebels, many of whom are believed to slip back and forth across the province’s largely unguarded border with Pakistan.

Washington D.C. — Minister Abdullah was nice enough to come here with a very senior-level delegation of many ministers from the Afghan Government, as well as the National Security Advisor and, of course, the Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States …  A few days later Mr. Abdullah Abdullah was dismissed by President Karzai.