| From the Guardian, home of doom and gloom. |
British officials are bracing themselves for the result of an annual UN poppy survey due later this summer. Early indications show an increase on Helmand's 1999 record of 45,000 hectares (112,500 acres) and a near-doubling of last year's crop. "It's going to be massive," said one British drugs official. "My guess is it's going to be the biggest ever."
Helmand's bumper harvest highlights the failure of western counter-narcotics efforts that have cost at least $2bn since 2001. It could undo progress made last year, when poppy cultivation dropped 21% after a call for a "jihad" on drugs by the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. It spells particularly bad news for Britain, which is leading the anti-narcotics campaign and has deployed 3,300 soldiers to the lawless province. Afghanistan produces almost 90% of the world's heroin, with about a third coming from Helmand. Drug experts say the province is as central to Afghanistan's illegal economy as California is to America's legal one. "If you took Helmand out of the picture, Afghanistan would fall from the world's top poppy grower to second or third place," said one US official.
| So the Brits have some explaining to do, but it's tough to tell farmers that they can't grow the one crop that will feed their families. |
The smuggling kingpins who control the £1.5bn trade have become rich, powerful and apparently untouchable. "Until Karzai arrests and jails one big dealer, people will not believe the central government is behind this drive," said a former American anti-narcotics contractor.
The most damaging allegations surround the minister charged with counter-narcotics, Muhammad Daud. Several western officials claim General Daud, a former Tajik warlord, has historical and family links to smuggling. He denies the allegations. "It is very shameful for a big country with such a good reputation to make allegations like this," he said.
| "Lies! All lies! Just 'cause Pa, and Grampa, and Great-Grampa, and Great-Great Grampa were smugglers doesn't mean I do that!" |
| Yup, it prob'ly would do just that. |