AFGHANS SUFFER IN DRUG WAR

ANY reflection on Afghan opium that does not mention the damage it
inflicts on the populations of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan is
incomplete (for example, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime
Report of 2006 estimates Iran has more than 1.2m opiate abusers,
nearly 3% of the general population aged 15-64). A Eurocentric focus
on demand is understandable from this end of the telescope but it
distorts the picture (America is doped up in Colombia for a bad trip
in Afghanistan, Comment, last week).

The increase in violence in southern Afghanistan in 2006 is not due
to tactics employed by different coalition partners, but to the
arrival of international security forces in areas hitherto
uncontested and conveniently close to Taliban heartlands along the border.

To consign the Afghan people to life under either local warlords or
the Taliban appears a wicked option. Since 2001, the international
community has given repeated assurances to Afghanistan that it would
help bring it out of the dark ages. Its performance thus far is
worthy of significant criticism, but to focus on the struggle of
those who have taken this responsibility seriously is to aim at the
wrong target.

America has spent enormous resources on counter-narcotics in
Afghanistan. Given that a very small proportion of Afghan-sourced
heroin reaches the US its efforts have been largely on behalf of the
region and Europe.

We never say thank you.

Paul Smyth

Royal United Services Institute

London SW1