Heroin is biggest threat to Afghanistan, says Straw
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today that Afghanistan’s opium production was the biggest threat to the war-torn country’s attempts to rebuild itself – but added that he expected production of the drug to increase next year.
However, he insisted Britain and the United States were turning the tide against opium growers and smugglers.
In a speech to the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, the Foreign Secretary praised the “remarkable transformation” Afghanistan had undergone, but warned of the dangers of opium.
He said: “Opium is the greatest threat to the modern and successful society that the Afghani people and government are trying to create.
“[It] is leaving the Afghanistan economy in hock to exploitative traders and warlords, fuelling coercion, corruption and insurgency . Afghanistan’s opium poisons the whole region.”
Greater amounts of the drug were being grown firstly because there was no strong central government, nor any back-up from a proper judiciary or police, but also because of economic factors, he said.
Improved roads and transport meant the drug was easier to move around, and the increased availability of imported crops such as wheat meant that many farmers now found it profitable to shift to growing poppies.
In a sense, the reasons for the increase were reasons that should be “applauded”, he said.
Mr Straw confirmed the UK was expecting a “large” increase both in the area under cultivation and the amount of opium produced.
However, he insisted: “It’s changing in our favour.”
The UK had a five-point plan for combating the drug trade, he said. To begin with, it was encouraging alternative livelihoods by helping farmers work out which were the most profitable crops and by supplying them with the tools and seeds they needed.
Secondly, it continued to try to eradicate drug plantations through the Afghanistan Central Eradication Planning Cell. It was also disrupting the market for drugs through specialist narcotics forces.
Fourthly, it was strengthening the criminal justice system so that arrests could be backed up by successful prosecution, even where the influence of powerful groups tended to put pressure on judges.
And lastly, the UK was raising awareness about the harm caused by opium through radio broadcasts, posters and other media, and by offering drug rehabilitation.
It would not be easy, he admitted, but the Afghani government had a “firm commitment’ to tackling the problem and he had every confidence in the ‘resilience” of the nation’s people.
The failure of the Afghani state had been evident in the 2001 World Trade Centre bombings, he said, and fear of that reoccurring should ensure a “renewed commitment” by the international community.
