ID :
22727
Sun, 10/05/2008 - 22:18
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/22727
The shortlink copeid
Afghan Governor pledges to stop illegal cultivation of poppy
New York, Oct 4 (PTI) The governor of Helmand, Afghanistan's largest poppy-producing province, has said that he is determined to beat the illicit crop that is a major source of money for drug lords and insurgents alike.
To do that, Gulab Mangal said that he plans to try
something that has worked in more peaceful parts of
Afghanistan, but which remains untested in lawless Helmand.
He hopes to persuade farmers not to plant poppy at all,
rather than destroying the crop once it has already been
planted, a policy he blames for growing greater strife in
Helmand.
In an interview with the New York Times, he said it will
take new seeds for farmers, new roads to get their legal crops
to the market, reconstruct money, strict enforcement of laws
against poppy growing and, perhaps most difficult of all, the
elimination of the corruption that has fueled the drug trade.
Mangal's solution may seem easy enough, but the task
before him is formidable, the Times notes.
So far, The Times said, Mangal has secured more than USD
8 million from the United States and Britain for seeds and
fertilizer for 26,000 farmers, as well as for a public
information campaign to let farmers know of his plans.
But just weeks before the planting season, the paper
said, he was still fretting that they would not arrive on
time.
"Four months ago I raised my voice, but we have been
delayed by bureaucracy," he told the Times. "We have to get to
the farmers within one month."
Helmand, the paper notes, is an embattled state, in which
the drug trade has become a major part of income for the
Taliban to keep their insurgency running.
The director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, estimated this year that the
Taliban earned some USD 100 million from the opium trade in
2007.
In Helmand, the Taliban insurgency is strongest and the
poppy crop is the largest, and the insurgents and powerful
drug smugglers feed off and protect one another.
Helmand produces some 50 per cent of Afghanistan's poppy
crop. If it were a country, it would lead the world in opium
poppy production all by itself, the Times notes.
Five districts out of 13 are outside government hands and
controlled by the insurgents and three more districts have
only a token government presence and foreign troops in the
district centers, the paper says.
Some 8,000 British troops are stationed in Helmand as
part of the N.A.T.O. force, along with hundreds of Afghan Army
soldiers, police officers and border forces. Yet this year
they have not managed to extend their hold on territory.
Just five months into the job Mangal 51, a former army
officer, says he is well aware of the challenges of tackling
drugs, corruption and militancy all at once.
A wealthy businessman, he has already served as governor
of two other provinces, Paktika and Laghman.
He said he was determined to eliminate what he called
"endemic internal corruption" and to accelerate the delivery
of reconstruction money.
To do that, Gulab Mangal said that he plans to try
something that has worked in more peaceful parts of
Afghanistan, but which remains untested in lawless Helmand.
He hopes to persuade farmers not to plant poppy at all,
rather than destroying the crop once it has already been
planted, a policy he blames for growing greater strife in
Helmand.
In an interview with the New York Times, he said it will
take new seeds for farmers, new roads to get their legal crops
to the market, reconstruct money, strict enforcement of laws
against poppy growing and, perhaps most difficult of all, the
elimination of the corruption that has fueled the drug trade.
Mangal's solution may seem easy enough, but the task
before him is formidable, the Times notes.
So far, The Times said, Mangal has secured more than USD
8 million from the United States and Britain for seeds and
fertilizer for 26,000 farmers, as well as for a public
information campaign to let farmers know of his plans.
But just weeks before the planting season, the paper
said, he was still fretting that they would not arrive on
time.
"Four months ago I raised my voice, but we have been
delayed by bureaucracy," he told the Times. "We have to get to
the farmers within one month."
Helmand, the paper notes, is an embattled state, in which
the drug trade has become a major part of income for the
Taliban to keep their insurgency running.
The director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, estimated this year that the
Taliban earned some USD 100 million from the opium trade in
2007.
In Helmand, the Taliban insurgency is strongest and the
poppy crop is the largest, and the insurgents and powerful
drug smugglers feed off and protect one another.
Helmand produces some 50 per cent of Afghanistan's poppy
crop. If it were a country, it would lead the world in opium
poppy production all by itself, the Times notes.
Five districts out of 13 are outside government hands and
controlled by the insurgents and three more districts have
only a token government presence and foreign troops in the
district centers, the paper says.
Some 8,000 British troops are stationed in Helmand as
part of the N.A.T.O. force, along with hundreds of Afghan Army
soldiers, police officers and border forces. Yet this year
they have not managed to extend their hold on territory.
Just five months into the job Mangal 51, a former army
officer, says he is well aware of the challenges of tackling
drugs, corruption and militancy all at once.
A wealthy businessman, he has already served as governor
of two other provinces, Paktika and Laghman.
He said he was determined to eliminate what he called
"endemic internal corruption" and to accelerate the delivery
of reconstruction money.
