US STEP UP PRESSURE ON AFGHAN DRUG WAR

US officials are pressing the Afghan government for a major
escalation of the war on drugs in Afghanistan, including the use of
controversial chemical spray, following another record drug harvest
in Afghanistan. # Afghanistan 'putting Nato's future in peril'

Amid signs that the Bush Administration is losing patience with the
lack of progress on drugs in Afghanistan, US officials are pressing
for at least the use of ground based spraying in the coming year,
increased military involvement, and promising to "dramatically
increase" both law enforcement against drugs and incentives not to
grow opium. advertisement

Last year Afghanistan produced a record 8,000tons of opium, 93 per
cent of the world's total.

American officials make no secret of the Bush Administration's
endorsement of aerial spraying, a radical solution which is opposed
by the British government and currently ruled out by the Karzai administration.

"The US government has asked for the use of chemical spray but our
officials in the ministry of health and ministry of agriculture are
not yet satisfied it is safe," said Zalmai Afzali, spokesman for the
government on counter-narcotics.

In response to Afghan concerns the US Ambassador in Kabul, William B.
Wood, has offered to have himself sprayed with the herbicide
Glyphosate, which US officials advocate for use in any spraying campaign.

A senior scientific advisor to the US government, Dr James Helling,
is also in Kabul to argue the case for Glyphosate, a chemical widely
available in Britain in the common garden herbicide 'Roundup', though
it is banned in Australia.

Mr Wood, who is jokingly referred to as "Chemical Bill" in Kabul's
diplomatic community for his enthusiasm for aerial spraying, was
previously US Ambassador to Colombia where he oversaw the huge US
aerial spray campaign against the cocaine trade.

The issue has divided opinion both within the Afghan government and
the international community.

Tom Schweich, assistant secretary of state for International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement told reporters last month: "Aerial
eradication is undoubtedly the most effective way. "You go in, you
get large blocks of land in a very short period of time. You do it
with minimal loss of life, since you don't have to fight your way in
and you don't have to fight your way out. You don't ever negotiate
with anybody,"

However, a European counter-narcotics official told the Telegraph:
"Aerial spraying is a bad idea firstly because the Afghans have to do
the eradication if it is to avoid a backlash from farmers and play
into the hands of Taliban propaganda. Western aircraft spraying
Afghan fields doesn't look like the government is responsible".

"There are also bound to be charges that people's or animal health
has been affected and there is sure to be collateral damage to legal crops."

The US strategy also calls for an increased role in both intelligence
sharing and counter-narcotics operations for NATO troops, something
which has alarmed some European contributors to the NATO force.

The commander of NATO, General Dan McNeill told the Telegraph that he
believes that drugs provides between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of
Taliban funding.

To date NATO has not used military action against drug smugglers and
convoys carrying drugs.

He suggested that might change, bringing NATO troops, including
British forces, directly into the drugs war.

"My understanding is that they are discussing in the North Atlantic
Council ways in which they would like ISAF (NATO forces) to be more
forward leaning in dealing with this," General McNeill said, though
he stressed that NATO forces would not undertake eradication
operations against poppy fields.

"Poppy in my assessment is a defining characteristic of this country
and it is negative in every respect. I don't know that we are going
to have a faster rate of progress until it is properly dealt with."

Most estimates suggest that it will take at least 20 years to
effectively break the poppy economy, a similar time frame to that
achieved in Thailand and other major opium cultivating nations of the past.

Last year Afghanistan grew enough opium to produce 800 tons of
heroin, 30 per cent more than global demand for the drug, amid
rampant corruption amongst government officials.

However, while the increase was concentrated in the south of the
country where the Taliban insurgency fuels general instability,
northern areas where there is greater security showed a slight reduction.

Counter-narcotics officials also point to progress made by new drug
courts which have so far prosecuted 811 cases, producing 481
convictions since they started operating a year ago.

A number of elite Afghan counter-narcotics police units have also
begun to have an impact with one unit netting four tons of liquid
heroin in a single raid last week.