| | Why Afghan Opium Output Keeps Growing Wall Street Journal
07/26/2007
By Greg Jaffe
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KABUL - With this conflict-torn country on track to produce another record amount of opium this year, U.S. officials want to significantly step up efforts to eradicate poppy crops before the fall harvest.
The problem for the U.S. officials is that their Afghan and North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies oppose their aggressive plans.
The United Nations estimates that farmers in Afghanistan are cultivating about 457,000 acres of poppy, the source of opium. That would represent a 10% increase from last year and an 80% jump from the 254,000 acres harvested in 2005, according to the U.N.
"We are all disappointed with the eradication efforts so far," said U.S. Ambassador William Wood.
Profits from the opium trade are being used to fund both Taliban insurgents and local warlords' militias. These groups have sapped the influence of the central government in Kabul and contributed to increased unrest in the southern part of the country, where the Taliban movement was born.
The Taliban movement, which sheltered al Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, was driven from power in Afghanistan by the U.S. later that year. Today, it is the base of an insurgent movement that seeks to remove the country's democratically elected, U.S.-supported government.
U.S., Afghan and European officials remain divided over how best to deal with the poppy crop, leading largely to inaction.
"There is really no clear consensus from my view for a comprehensive way forward on the counternarcotics in Afghanistan," said Adm. William Fallon, the top commander of U.S. forces in the region.
European and Afghan officials worry that a very aggressive approach could hurt the local economy and drive farmers to join the Taliban movement. U.S. officials would like to rely on aerial spraying, which is the most effective way to destroy the poppy crop. But Afghan and NATO officials in Afghanistan say such an approach is indiscriminate.
Instead, U.S. officials are pushing a program to spray poppy crops from the ground. While the Europeans and Afghans believe that some modest eradication must be done through ground-based spraying, they argue that this should be accompanied by a push to provide a realistic economic alternative to growing poppy. The problem is that there is no crop or industry in Afghanistan that can match its profitability.
The U.S., to blunt the impact of spraying on the economy, plans to flood the major poppy-growing provinces in the south with aid. Helmand Province, a Taliban stronghold dominated by the opium trade, is on pace to get about $270 million in aid next year. If it were a country, it would be the fifth-largest recipient of U.S. development aid in the world, Mr. Wood said.
European officials caution that even the massive influx of aid won't make up for the impact of the poppy eradication on the Afghan economy. "The economy of this country is based on the opium trade," said one senior European official in Afghanistan. "You can't just pull it away. It is a moral dilemma."
U.S. officials counter that the aid programs, which are focused on building schools, roads and health clinics, aren't having the impact they should because of the violence associated with the opium trade and the growing Taliban presence. In many instances the Taliban have attacked projects in the area. Contractors are reluctant to work in areas where there is intense fighting.
Intensifying eradication efforts would also put major demands on U.S., Afghan and NATO forces. Senior U.S. military officials say large numbers of Afghan troops may have to be redirected to protect eradication teams.
Those troops are focused on patrolling Afghan cities in the south and east where the Taliban are seeking a foothold, and if they are pulled to focus on poppy eradication, some military officials worry that the Taliban would fill the void.
As NATO troops take part in a surge in fighting in the south, largely against Taliban forces, a doubling of the U.S. military force in the restive eastern part of the country has blunted an expected enemy Taliban offensive from across the border in Pakistan, U.S. officials say. Some Afghan troops would also likely have to be pulled from the border region with Pakistan, where the U.S. says they have played a significant role in turning back an expected spring offensive by the Taliban.
"It takes a significant amount of manpower to secure an eradication effort," said Brig. Gen. Robert Cone, who oversees the training of the Afghan army and police forces.
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