Link to UNOCD report http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/AFG07_ExSum_web.pdf Afghan VP Calls For Spraying Of Poppies The Associated Press 09/02/2007 After Record Crop, Afghan Leader Calls For Destruction Of Opium Poppies An Afghan vice president has called for aerial spraying to destroy opium poppies after the cultivation of the illicit crop reached a record high this year, accounting for over 90 percent of global supply, according to a report Sunday. Ahmad Zia Massoud, one of Afghanistan's vice presidents, said the international community's counternarcotics policy has failed in southern Afghanistan, where most of this year's crop was grown. Writing in a commentary in Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Massoud said poppies have spread like "cancer" in Helmand province, where British forces are based. "I have no doubt that the efforts of Britain and the international community in fighting the opium trade in Afghanistan are well-intentioned, and we are grateful for their support," he wrote. "But it is now clear that your policy in the south of our country has completely failed." Last week, the U.N. announced that the area of land used to cultivate opium had increased by 17 percent this year, with more than half of it in Helmand, a Taliban stronghold. The report forecast that Afghanistan would produce 9,000 tons of opium this year - about 93 percent of global supply. That is up 34 percent from 2006, and is enough to make more than 880 tons of heroin. The surge in production has stepped up pressure on President Hamid Karzai's government to consider new ways of to curb it - including aerial spraying, which it has previously opposed, saying that tactic would harm legitimate crops and water supplies, thus increasing rural support for the Taliban militia. Massoud said the booming opium trade is closely linked to insecurity that prevails in the south, where Taliban are waging a bloody campaign against foreign and Afghan security forces. He also said those growing the lucrative crop are not being punished. "The time has come for us to adopt a more forceful approach. We must switch from ground-based eradication to aerial spraying," Massoud said. He said that spraying is "safe," and that "farmers will no longer be able to bribe officials to protect their crop." "The opium directly supports those who are killing Afghan and international troops," Massoud said. "Failure to achieve a substantial reduction in the opium crop will be equivalent to supporting the Taliban." It was not immediately clear whether Massoud's comment reflected a change in government policy. Afghan and British counternarcotics officials were not available for comment Sunday. UK strategy on Afghan drugs under attack By Alex Barker Political Correspondent FT.com Published: September 3 2007 Britains faltering counter-narcotics strategy in Afghanistan came under renewed pressure on Sunday after a senior member of President Hamid Karzais government called for the aerial spraying of poppy fields. US officials have been pushing to introduce aerial spraying for some time but the move has been strongly resisted by Britain on the grounds it is counterproductive and against the wishes of the Afghan government. However, this case was partly undermined after Ahmed Zia Massoud, Afghan vice-president, broke ranks with Mr Karzai to call for a more forceful approach to tackle poppies that have spread like cancer. We must switch from ground based eradication to aerial spraying, he said. The split within Mr Karzais government mirrors the divide between the US and the UK over the best way to tackle poppy production, a business interwoven with the Taliban insurgency. The disagreement comes at a sensitive time for transatlantic relations, with the UK following a seemingly divergent path in Iraq from the US surge. Several ministers have visited Afghanistan recently to underscore the importance of what they consider to be a generational struggle. Yet, in spite of a big increase in troops and resources, poppy production has soared. A UN report last week said production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 per cent of the worlds opium, jumped by 34 per cent last year. Drug production is now closely linked to the insurgency, the report concluded, with the Taliban controlling vast swathes of land. Opium eradication efforts were inadequate and often corrupt, it said, meaning poor farmers suffered the brunt of eradication. Referring to British-led efforts to reduce poppy farming, Mr Massoud said: It is now clear that your policy in the south of our country has completely failed. Moving to aerial spraying was safer and less open to corruption, he added. Senior Foreign Office officials have dismissed such calls, saying it is difficult to envisage circumstances where the benefits of aerial eradication outweigh the disadvantages. Spraying is hard to target and merely prompts farmers to plant more poppies to cover debts, they argue. It also risks fuelling popular myths about foreign forces using chemicals. Britain advocates more arrests of traffickers and extra Nato support to Afghan eradication teams. On Sunday, Douglas Alexander, international development secretary, said Mr Karzai remained opposed to aerial spraying. We are determined to continue to work along with international partners and the Afghan government to meet this challenge, but it will take time. Mr Alexander, who recently met Mr Karzai in Afghanistan, added: Where you have law, governance and security it is possible to tackle poppy production. Where you dont, as in Helmand at the moment, you see an increase. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007 Afghans hurt themselves through tribalism blog.al.com/afghanistan Posted by Michael Tomberlin September 02, 2007 11:35 AM GHAZNI, AFGHANISTAN The Afghans call it "tribalism," as if it is somewhat noble in its purpose; as if it's akin to "patriotism" on a smaller scale. Certainly it sounds better than calling it what it really is: racism. For decades, the people of this once-great country banded together to drive out invaders only to revert back to infighting among the various groups, ethnicities, "tribes." There are many obstacles today's Afghanistan has to overcome to reach and surpass the modernity of its neighbors, to become an advanced society. Its biggest obstacle to progress, its biggest obstacle to stability, its biggest obstacle to peace is tribalism. Afghanistan has seen the enemy, and it is itself. Generally speaking, Pashtuns hate Tajiks and Tajiks return the sentiment. Both look down on the Hazaras, though Tajiks have historically formed alliances of convenience with Hazaras and Uzbeks to match the strength of the Pashtuns. The Uzbeks don't have enough numbers to impose any will on anyone alone. Pashtuns account for about 45 percent of Afghanistan's population. Among Pashtuns, half are of the Durrani tribe, and the other half is the Ghilzai tribe. Pashtuns think of themselves as being of Arab descent, and the majority of the Arab and Muslim world view Afghanistan as a Pashtun country. They speak their own language known as Pashtu. Tajiks are the next largest group with more than 25 percent of the population. They were the original inhabitants of what we know today as Afghanistan. They speak a Persian Farsi language known as Dari, which is the official language of Afghanistan. Hazaras hold 10 percent of the population. Their ancestry goes back to the days when Genghis Khan invaded and controlled the country. They are mostly a poor, agrarian people who occupy an area in central Afghanistan. Uzbeks make up less than 10 percent of Afghans with the rest made up of smaller tribes such as Turkmen, Baluchi, Kyrgyz, Qizilbash, Kazakhs, Aimaq, Wakhis, Sikhs, Nuristanis and others. It is unknown exactly why the Pashtuns (and to a lesser extent the Tajiks) look at Hazaras as second-class citizens. Some theorize it is retaliation for the brutality Genghis Khan showed the people of Afghanistan during his control of the country. Others believe the intermixing of Mongol blood with that of other tribes is the root of the racism. But the real reason Pashtuns and Tajiks look down on Hazaras may have its roots in religion. Pashtuns and Tajiks are primarily Sunni Muslims. In fact, both are predominantly of the same Hanafi sect of Sunni. Hazaras, on the other hand, are Shiite Muslims. But unlike other Muslim countries, the infighting in Afghanistan is rarely along religious lines such as we see in Iraq. The more critical factor seems to come down to tribe or race. It was the disunity of the country that created the environment for the Taliban to come into power. The racial scars were deepened during the rule of the Taliban, members of which were mostly Pashtun and Tajik. The Taliban devastated entire villages of Hazaras. There are heartbreaking stories of Taliban brutality of Hazaras that are recounted among the people here to this day. This fragmentation of Afghanistan prevents any sort of real unity from taking hold. Such nationalism will be vital for this young and some say fragile government. But if you ask many of the people today whether they are "Afghan" most Pashtuns will take on that label while Tajiks and Hazaras are more reluctant and more likely point to their tribe first, seeing "Afghan" as a Pashtun word. I am told that is changing as the country progresses, but it will take time. President Hamid Karzai is Pashtun, but all of the tribes have a voice in the government through representation. Tajiks and Hazaras maintain there was fraud in the election, and an investigation agreed, though not enough to change the outcome. The country's leader may be Pashtun, but it is Ahmed Shah Massoud, a Tajik, who is its national hero and most believe would have been the country's new leader after the Taliban. Massoud was the commander of the mujihadeen freedom fighters who drove out the Soviets and enjoyed numerous military victories against the Taliban. His murder by agents of Osama bin Laden two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon only helped cement his place in the hearts of Afghans. Billboards and placards bear his image all over the country, and he is talked about in the hallowed tones we once used for our own Founding Fathers. The Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police are a big part of today's desegregation plan of this country. The ANA has made it a point to mix its units for the past five years, and the ANP has followed suit. However, in an effort to retain and recruit soldiers, the ANA is allowing them to re-enlist or enlist into units closer to their home village. Some fear this will lead to segregation within its ranks again because villages themselves remain segregated throughout the country. The ANP has mixed police of different tribes for some time now, with mostly successful results. There are still instances where a Hazara chief will be slandered in the community by his Pashtun subordinates to the point of making him ineffective at his job. There are cases of a mostly Tajik police force setting up in a police district center in a Pashtun neighborhood and not getting any sort of support from the locals. As an outsider, it is frustrating to watch this country try to rebound from some very significant setbacks that were not of their own doing while shooting themselves in the foot over something that looks to be so petty, so insignificant. I recently met an Afghan man, a war hero who has fought the Taliban countless times and today works as a police chief trying to create the Afghanistan he envisions. He derided his fellow Pashtuns for holding on to their backward ways (his word, not mine). He said if you go to the universities in Kabul today, you will find a large number of Hazaras there -- learning, growing, enlightening, progressing. "We will wake up one day and find the Hazaras are in control of this country, and maybe they should be," he said, speaking of the idea as something he hopes for rather than fears. "They are the ones showing the real desire to move forward while the Pashtuns want to cling to the old ways and go backward." His thoughts echo what others have told me is the key to ending tribalism here. The children, they say, are more open to progress and care little for the differences older Afghans cling to. Education is doing much to rid the country of outdated ways of thinking, I'm told. It's encouraging to look back on U.S. history to see the growing pains our own country went through. The Civil War, women's suffrage and the civil rights movement have similarities to some of the problems the people of Afghanistan need to address and learn from. I have no doubt they can and will. They can start by looking at "tribalism" as the dirty word it is. Michael Tomberlin is a captain in the Alabama Army National Guard deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and a reporter with The News. This is another in a series of dispatches from his yearlong tour there.
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