DRUG TRADE THREATENS AFGHAN FUTURE

KABUL - A burgeoning drug trade is as big a threat to the future of
Afghanistan as the Taliban or al-Qaeda, says Aly Mawji, a Canadian who is
the diplomatic representative here for the Aga Khan Development Network.

"If we do not tackle narcotics, this country will not only move into a
narco-economy, but issues of insecurity, typical trends of narco-mafiaism,
are all going to set into Afghanistan," Mr. Mawji said yesterday.

If that happens, all the efforts of international aid organizations will be
hobbled.

Representatives of more than 60 countries are to begin talks tomorrow in
Berlin on the future of Afghanistan. They include Foreign Affairs Minister
Bill Graham and International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll, who are
expected to make announcements about future aid from Canada.

Afghanistan is already Canada's largest foreign aid recipient.

Mr. Mawji said that while he will also emphasize the need for expanded
security in the country, the narcotics issue poses an equally grave menace.

"Civil society organizations cannot compete with narcotic production," said
Mr. Mawji, whose agency combines business and development efforts in Asia
and Africa.

The overwhelming level of opium production in Afghanistan, which is
estimated to provide 75 per cent of the world's supply of heroin, is
distorting wage-labour prices and all other agricultural production, he
said. Farmers can typically make 10 times as much growing poppies as they
can growing wheat.

Chris Alexander, Canada's ambassador to Kabul, it's crucial for the
international community to maintain its efforts as Afghanistan enters a new
phase of reconstruction, which will take it forward from the Bonn agreement
that is due to end in the summer of 2004.

The country has already shown signs of great progress, he said from Berlin,
by maintaining national unity for the past two years, adopting a democratic
constitution, and developing a framework that sets out what needs to be
done for the next seven years.