Straw doubles funding for Afghan drug war
Britain has doubled its funding for the fight against Afghanistan’s drug trade to £52 million, Jack Straw said today.
The Foreign Secretary made the announcement after talks with Afghan president Hamid Karzai in the capital, Kabul.
Afghanistan is responsible for about 90 per cent of the heroin consumed in Britain and Europe, according to the UN.
Since the Taliban was ousted from Afghanistan heroin production in the country has increased twenty-fold, despite UK and US pledges to tackle the problem.
Half of the British contribution would go towards providing alternative livelihoods for opium farmers, Mr Straw said.
The Foreign Secretary also announced the appointment of Lieutenant General John McColl as special envoy to Afghanistan.
Speaking after his meeting today, Mr Straw said that western Europe was as responsible for dealing with the country’s drugs trade as the Afghan government.
“This a joint problem, but also a joint responsibility,” he said, while praising Mr Karzai’s anti-narcotics plan announced earlier in the day.
“As a testament of our national commitment to this plan I can now announce that we are increasing our contribution to counter narcotics efforts by 100 per cent from $50 million to $100 million.”
For his part, Mr Karzai said his country’s narcotics problem was a product of 30 years of civil war, but said that was no excuse.
“It is against our economy and I hope very much that now the eradication has begun, the international community will fully stand with Afghanistan in alternative livelihoods, in completely removing narco-economics from this country,” he said.
