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LONDON – The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) today hailed the monumental move by the US to stop the failed policy of poppy crop eradication in Afghanistan, and it called on the US, UK and the rest of the international community to back its Poppy for Medicine proposal in the war-torn country.
Associated Press reported several days ago that the U.S. announced a new drug policy for Afghanistan, declaring that it was phasing out funding for eradication programs while significantly increasing its funding for alternate crop and drug interdiction efforts.
The U.S. envoy for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, told The Associated Press on the weekend that eradication programs weren't working and were only driving farmers into the hands of the Taliban.
"Eradication is a waste of money," Holbrooke said to AP.
This prompted the The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS), formerly the Senlis Council, to issue this press release today:
Dubbed Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," the military push was described by officials as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's new phase, involving nearly 4,000 of the newly-arrived Marines and 650 Afghan forces. British forces last week led similar, but smaller, missions to fight and clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar provinces.
The Pentagon is deploying 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in time for the elections and expects the total number of US forces there to reach 68,000 by the end of the year. That is double the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2008.
to fight and clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar provinces.
The Council called on the US to implement its proposed Poppy for Medicine programme to license the growing of the poppy crop in Afghanistan for localised, tightly controlled production of morphine, currently unavailable to 80% of the world’s population.
After the US announcement, the UK government spoke out against the new stance by the US and vowed to continue its own eradication efforts.
From My "Debunk This Video Thread"
Found this article in the news today thought it would be an interesting addition, apparently we have no intentions of eradicating the Opium production in Afghanistan, and seem to raise objections to other countries plans to do so. After watching the video this thread presents, it's a small wonder...
Source
Britain to continue poppy eradication in Afghanistan despite US reversal
Britain will continue to fund the destruction of opium fields in Afghanistan despite the United States condemning poppy eradication as a waste of money.
The British Government said destroying poppy fields remained a key deterrent to growers and one of the "seven pillars" of its anti-opium strategy in Helmand province, just a day after Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan, said that destroying the crop only drove poor farmers to join the insurgency....
US: Fine, we will encourage their use in our Pharm sector, this is going to take some fancy negotiating back home.
Warlord: Fine, here are the current locations and 600 men. We will talk more in a couple of weeks!
Originally posted by star in a jar
Interesting, nice sleuthing!
So... Just how accessible will this new, legalized 'medicine' be?
I like Getreadyalready's scene.
A spin on his/her scene:
US: Fine, we will encourage their use in our Pharm sector, this is going to take some fancy negotiating back home.
Warlord: Okay, I'll give you 2200 troops and current/future locations if our opium will be sold in stores.
US:No, prescription only.
Warlord: ....
Warlord: Fine, here are the current locations and 600 men. We will talk more in a couple of weeks!
[edit on 30-7-2009 by star in a jar]
Thursday, March 28, 2002
The Bush administration has decided not to destroy the opium crop in Afghanistan. President Bush, who previously linked the Afghan drug trade directly to terrorism, has now decided not to destroy the Afghan opium crop.
"The war in Afghanistan will be decided within the next six weeks based on whether or not the poppy crops go to market," stated a U.S. intelligence official who recently returned from Afghanistan.
The source, who requested that he not be identified, noted that the opium poppy fields are blooming and ready for harvest. U.S. forces could destroy the crops using aerial spraying techniques, but no such actions are planned.
"If the estimated 3,000 tons of opium reaches market, it will lead to a new upsurge in international terrorism and a great loss in international credibility for the Bush administration and the United States' ability to conduct war in the 21st century.
DRUGS
The report described the UK's counter-narcotics role as a "poisoned chalice" and said it was "highly unlikely" that targets to wean Afghanistan off its reliance on drugs money would be achieved soon.
Despite the UK spending nearly £160m between 2004 and 2008, cultivation of opium poppies is thought to have tripled in Helmand, while the UN estimated insurgent militias took in $100m (£60m) in tax and protection money from drugs farmers last year alone.
"It is clear that despite the commendable efforts of the Foreign Office in adopting a broad-ranging, holistic approach to tackling narcotics in Afghanistan, success in that area depends on a range of factors which lie far beyond the control and resource of the UK alone," said Mr Gapes.
The report recommended the Afghan government should in future be partnered in its counter-narcotics efforts by the UN and Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), which were more able to co-ordinate international efforts on the issue.
KABUL (Reuters) - NATO's new chief called Friday for additional reinforcements in Afghanistan, and the alliance announced the deaths of eight more U.S. and British troops as violence worsens in the eight-year-old war's deadliest phase.
In neighboring Pakistan, officials said they believed that country's Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, had been killed in a missile strike, a major coup in the fight against the militant movement which has roots in tribes on both sides of the border.
But an Afghan Taliban spokesman said Mehsud's death would have no effect on its fight on the Afghan side of the frontier, because the organizations are not directly linked.
The US has put 50 Afghans suspected to be drug traffickers with Taliban links on a list of people to be "captured or killed", the New York Times reports.
Two American generals have told the US Congress that the policy is legal under the military's rules of engagement and international law, the paper says.
In a report, yet to be released, it was described as a key strategy to disrupt the flow of drug money to the Taliban.
The move is a major shift in America's counter-narcotics drive in Afghanistan.
In interviews with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is due to release the report later this week, two American generals serving in Afghanistan said that major traffickers with proven links to the insurgency have been put on the "joint integrated prioritised target list", the New York Times reported.
That means they have been given the same target status as insurgent leaders, and can be captured or killed at any time.
It quoted one of the generals as telling the committee: "We have a list of 367 'kill or capture' targets, including 50 nexus targets who link drugs and the insurgency."
The generals were not identified in the Senate report, the paper said.
Poppy destruction
For many years, US policy in Afghanistan had focused on destroying poppy crops.
But in March Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to the region, said that US efforts to eradicate opium poppy crops in Afghanistan have been "wasteful and ineffective".
He said efforts to eradicate poppy cultivation had failed to make an impact on the Taliban insurgents' ability to raise money from the drugs trade.
The southern Afghan province of Helmand is the main producer of Afghan opium, which accounts for more than 90% of the global supply.