MINEFIELD OF POPPIES

Canada's Delicate Dance In Afghanistan

While Canada's prime minister is committed to eradicating the opium
industry in Afghanistan, the soldiers charged with the job are still
trying to figure out how to do it without causing a bloodbath of
innocent lives.

"Narcotics are the curse of Afghanistan," said Lt.-Gen. Andrew
Leslie, the head of Canada's army. "It's a hugely complicated problem
and I don't have a solution right now."

After serving in Afghanistan in 2003 and seeing the drug activity
first-hand, Leslie said villagers are forced to grow poppies under
the threat of death from warlords.

Opium is used in the manufacture of heroin.

"If you don't produce that cash crop, they'll come and kill you or
they'll kill your daughter," he said yesterday at the Edmonton Garrison.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday that Canada is working
to eliminate the threat of terrorism, but also wants to eliminate
drug trafficking which is causing problems in our own streets.

"For that reason we support the efforts of the international
community to eradicate drug production," Harper said.

"Of course, we're not directly involved in the eradication of the
growing of poppies, but we do support those efforts and we support
the efforts of providing alternatives to people."

A report released yesterday by the British-based Senlis Council, a
drug policy think-tank, said Canadian troops and Afghan civilians are
paying with their lives because of failing U.S. policies that focus
on elimination of the poppy crop.

"Canadian troops have been handed an impossible mission which can
only lead to significant casualties," says the report.

"Until Canada fundamentally re-evaluates its approach and creates its
own new strategy for its presence in Kandahar, with a clear split
from the failed U.S. policies there, the Canadian mission in
Afghanistan is blindly following a path that will lead to senseless
military and civilian casualties."

While Leslie agreed with the notion of eliminating the drug trade,
bringing it about will be a very complicated task because it
endangers the very people the international forces are trying to help.

"I have driven through poppy fields that stretched for 10 kilometres.
What do you do? Do you get out of your vehicle and start to knock
down plants one at a time, thereby incurring the wrath of the poor
peasant who's got a weapon, who has another cash crop with which to
feed his family? And by the way, if he doesn't produce poppies, the
warlords will kill him."

Leslie added: "The rule of law is the central tenet of the Canadian
character and we produce an awful lot of narcotics, and we can't seem
to stop it. "