Record poppy crop makes mockery of Afghanistan's 'jihad' on opiumBy Nick Jackson in Kabul
18 April 2004
Blossoms of ripe opium poppies blanket the valleys of Nangarhar province - colourful proof that another war is not working: Afghanistan's "jihad" against opium production.
President Hamid Karzai's promise that 25 per cent of the opium harvest in Afghanistan would be destroyed is no closer to being realised. Last year, the harvest provided three quarters of the world's heroin, and 95 per cent of Europe's. This year a record harvest is expected. Robert Charles, a narcotics expert from the US State Department, says that 300,000 acres of opium poppies will be harvested, 30 per cent more than the previous highest. Already 10 million people worldwide are addicted to Afghan opiates.
At a conference in Berlin this month, US Secretary of State Colin Powell linked the aid package of $2.3bn pledged to Afghanistan for 2004-05 to the destruction of the opium harvest. It was then that Mr Karzai called on farmers to fight opium production with the same commitment as they would a holy war.
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