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| Afghanistan |
| Afghan poppy growers helping hard boyz |
| 2006-04-18 |
| Poppy growers of some provinces were assisting the insurgents in disturbing law and order situation, an advisory office of Senlis here said on Sunday. Earlier, Senlis has many times demanded a legal status for poppy cultivation. Senlis, with its headquarter in Paris was constituted in 2002. The body has launched certain analysis on legal poppy cultivation in the yesteryear. Spokesman for Senlis in Kabul Almas Bawar told Pajhwok Afghan News that poppy crops were eradicated in Kandahar, Nangarhar, and Helmand province in the year past, but no assistance was offered to the growers. He said: "Farmers were against the government, Al Qaeda and its foreign allies exploit this opportunity by helping the growers and then use them against the rulers." He said government and international community had vowed aid in return for poppy eradication, but later did not keep its promises. He said some farmers had showed them cheques received in the yesteryear for poppy elimination, but the cheques were never honoured. Eliminating of poppy crops by dent of force would be a tough exercise for the government, and rulers should not stir the anger of the growers, Bawar warned. However, officials in ministry of counter-narcotics said they had constituted certain plans for banishing poppy crops, and that they had never under estimated the looming problem. Spokesman for Counter-Narcotics Zalmay Afzali told this news agency: "Poppy is food of the terrorism." He said they were in close contact with the provincial officials, religious scholars, and national elders to control poppy cultivation in the country. He said local people had offered them meager help in war against poppy as compared with the yesteryear. Regarding alternative livelihood programme, Zalmy said: "The programme should not be confined to only seeds distribution, we should construct roads, schools, clinics and other basic things for the farmers." Spokesman for NATO-led ISAF forces Maj IG Clooney also expressed his concern on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. He said: "It is clear that growing of poppy crops is against the law and a great hurdle in reconstruction process." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 You can check out Micheal Yon's latest dispatches for a report from the ground on the fun and games surrounding poppy cultivation in Afghanistan |
| Posted by: pihkalbadger 2006-04-18 07:24 |