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| Afghanistan |
| NATO won't destroy Afghan poppy fields |
| 2010-03-26 |
| NATO has rejected an appeal made by Russia for eradication of opium fields in Afghanistan, arguing that the sole source of income in the region cannot be removed. Addressing a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on Wednesday, head of Russia's Federal Drug Control Agency (FSKN) Victor Ivanov said "Afghan opiates led to the death of 1 million people by overdose in the last 10 years, and that is United Nations data. Is that not a threat to world peace and security?" The Russian official tasked NATO forces with "normalizing the situation in Afghanistan" which includes "the elimination of drug production." Meanwhile, NATO spokesman James Appathurai voiced understanding for Russian concerns, given the country's estimated 200,000 heroin and morphine addicts and the tens of thousands dying each year as a result of their addiction. However, he went on to say that the Afghan drug problem had to be handled carefully in an effort to avoid alienating local residents. "We share the view that it has to be tackled," the spokesman said. "But there is a slight difference of views," Appathurai added. "We cannot be in a situation where we remove the only source of income for people who live in the second poorest country in the world without being able to provide them an alternative. That is simply not possible," the NATO official explained. According to statistics provided by Ivanov, Russia was the single largest consumer of heroin in 2008. Moscow blames NATO for the surge in heroin trafficking from Afghanistan to Russia. The production of opium in Afghanistan has skyrocketing since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 Surely we could pay off the farmers or are people still getting backhanders in Karzai Govt? |
| Posted by: Paul2 2010-03-26 13:40 |
| #3 Pay the farmers directly to burn the crops in the field. Cheaper, more effective and costs a hell of a lot less, plus it starves out the middle-men (drug cartels and Taliban). |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-03-26 10:29 |
| #2 I have a win-win proposal: have Russia' Ivanov come in a buy the poppy direct from the farmers, and cut out all the middle men. Then they can employ quality control in refining and packaging, and distribute the safer product directly to their junkies. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-26 07:29 |
| #1 Now if Russia were willing to cough up some hard cash to replace that crop for the next year or two, perhaps an agreement could be reached. Of course, Putin would have a hard time appropriating that cash for his personal use, so it ain't gonna happen. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-03-26 00:31 |