The Poppy: Helmand's biggest problem

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/dec/11/afghanistan1

Recapturing Musa Qala from the Taliban is more than an important morale-boosting event for Nato and Afghan forces, writes Richard Norton-Taylor
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An Afghan farmer tends to poppy plants. Photograph: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Musa Qala town lies in a rich, opium poppy-growing area of Helmand, the southern Afghanistan province that supplies about half of the world's opium and, in turn, some 90% of the heroin on British streets.
The poppy, General Khodaidad, the Afghan counter-narcotics minister, said in an interview with the Guardian, is the biggest problem facing the country.

"Poppies are feeding terrorism in Afghanistan", he said. The problems they created were "bigger than terrorism, bigger than al-Qaida, bigger than warlordism, bigger than corruption".

Drug money bought the weapons, ammunition and explosives that were smuggled over Helmand's borders with Pakistan and Iran, Khodaidad said.

British military commanders distance themselves from the battle against drugs. They are concerned about the backlash if they get directly involved in destroying poppies, a vital crop for so many Afghans and their families.

According to the latest annual report of the UN office on drugs and crime, the total export value of the country's opium harvest amounts to more than $3bn (£1.5bn), almost half the size of the country's entire gross domestic product. More than 12% of Afghanistan's population of 23m is involved in opium poppy cultivation.

Khodaidad said the Afghan government, having seen off US proposals to spray the crops with chemicals, was changing tactics. Instead of trying to apply throughout the country directions imposed from on high from Kabul, he and his officials will adopt a more subtle, carrot-and-stick approach. This would involve local councils and tribal elders in a counter-narcotics drive, offering alternative employment to farmers in projects such as building bridges, roads, and schools, and industries including carpet-weaving, the minister said.

Provinces that agreed to get rid of opium poppies would be rewarded with $1m, with the promise of more to come, he said.

Last year, the number of provinces that agreed to stop opium poppy cultivation had increased fom six to 13; poppy growing had been reduced or abandoned in four other provinces - Nangahar, Badakhshan, Laghman, and Baghlan - Khodaidad said. But he admitted it would be a long time before the problems caused by opium poppies would disappear. Gordon Brown is expected to raise the issue in his statement to the Commons on Afghanistan tomorrow.