Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has declared a holy war on the drugs trade gripping his war-shattered country, which produces nearly nine-tenths of the world's opium. He has told a conference of key figures whom he wants to involve in the crackdown that the trade is more dangerous than terrorism. "As we did jihad against the Russian invasion we should now do a jihad against the narcotics, which have dishonoured our nation among the international community," he said. Mr Karzai got the audience of 500 tribal elders, governors, police and world figures, including US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, to repeat after him: "We don't want poppy cultivation."
| "We want ponies instead." |
Mr Karzai says Afghanistan has to prove it is "not a nation of beggars". After 25 years of war, including 10 years of Soviet occupation, Afghanistan has no transport infrastructure and opium can earn farmers 10 times more than other cash crops. "Whether or not the international community supports us by offering alternative livelihood, we should stop poppy cultivation and restore our honour," Mr Karzai said. "We will destroy poppy cultivation and rebuild our pomegranate gardens back, we will destroy poppy and rebuild vineyards, we will destroy poppy and rebuild almond gardens." He says the "cancer" of drugs is more difficult to tackle than terrorism or the Soviet invasion. "Poppy cultivation is more dangerous than terrorism, it is more dangerous than civil wars because this crop is not only a source of weakness, dishonour and defeat of Afghanistan, but also an internal danger." |