AFGHAN POPPIES WILL BE SPRAYED, U.S. ANTI-DRUG CHIEF
SAYS

KABUL, Afghanistan - The top U.S. anti-drug official said Saturday
that Afghan poppies will be sprayed with herbicide to combat an opium
trade that produced a record heroin haul this year, a measure likely
to anger farmers and scare Afghans unfamiliar with weed-killers.

John Walters, the director of the U.S. Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said Afghanistan could turn into a narco-state unless
"giant steps" are made toward eliminating poppy cultivation.

"Proceeds from opium production feed the insurgency and burden
Afghanistan's nascent political institutions with the scourge of corruption."

Afghans are opposed to spraying poppies. After nearly three decades
of war, western science and assurances can do little to assuage their
fears of chemicals being dropped from airplanes. Because of those
fears, and because crop-dusters could be shot down by insurgents,
spraying needs to be done on the ground.

The Afghan government has not publicly said it will spray and
President Hamid Karzai has said in the past herbicides pose too big a
risk, contaminating water and killing the produce that grows alongside poppies.

But Walters said Karzai and other officials have agreed to ground spraying.

"The president has said yes and I think some of the ministers have
repeated yes," Walters said without specifying when spraying would start.

Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's deputy minister for counter-narcotics,
said the government hadn't made any decisions yet. But an official
close to Karzai said the issue is being looked at.