Opium poppies rear their heads

2003-10-29 14:56

Moscow - Afghanistan, the world's leading producer of opium, risks becoming a failed state once again in the hands of drugs cartels and narco-terrorists, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.

Opium cultivation was virtually eradicated in 2001 by the hard-line Taliban regime, but since it was forced from power two years ago, Afghanistan has massively resumed harvesting and now accounts for three-quarters of global opium production, the UN office on drugs and crime said in its latest annual report.

"The country is clearly at a crossroads. Either major surgical drug-control measures are taken now, or the drug cancer in Afghanistan will keep spreading and metastatise into corruption, violence and terrorism," UN anti-drugs chief Antonio Maria Costa said in the report.

Narco-terrorists

"There is a palpable risk that Afghanistan will again turn into a failed state, this time in the hands of drugs cartels and narco-terrorists," he added.

In the war-ravaged country, this year the area under opium poppy cultivation increased by eight percent, from 74 000ha in 2002 to 80 000 in 2003, the Vienna-based body said in its report, due to be presented in Moscow on Wednesday.

Opium production went up by six percent, from 3 400 to 3 600 tons.

Even more alarmingly, 28 out of 32 provinces in Afghanistan now harvest the drug crop, up from 18 provinces in 1999, as cultivation spreads outside the traditional eastern and southern producing areas.

The total revenues earned by poppy farmers and traffickers amounted to more than half of Afghanistan's gross domestic product of $4.4bn.

"The income of Afghan opium farmers and traffickers was about $2.3bn, a sum equivalent to half the legitimate GDP of the country," the report said.

"Out of this drug chest, some provincial administrators and military commanders take a considerable share: the more they get used to this, the less likely it becomes that they will respect the law, be loyal to Kabul and support the legal economy.

"Terrorists take a cut as well, the longer this happens, the greater the threat to security within the country and on its borders," Costa said.

The UN report also called on the international community to step up reconstruction of Afghanistan and provide more aid to reduce poverty and hunger in the country, where poppy harvests provides a livelihood for many farmers.

Opium poppy cultivation plays a direct role in the livelihood of about 1.7 million rural people, or about seven percent of the Afghan population of 24 million, it underlined.

The average income per opium-growing family was $3 900 in 2003.

"Law enforcement alone cannot suffice. Far too many people still have no food security, no electricity, no running water, no roads, no schools and no health services," the UN's top drug official said.

- AFP