AFGHANISTAN'S OPIUM CRACKDOWN RUNS INTO OPPOSITION

Poppy Farmers Resist Interim Leader's Plans To Kill The Crop

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In the most serious internal challenge yet to interim
Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, influential elders from the nation's
opium-producing provinces warned the government Wednesday against trying to
eradicate a vast crop of poppies that are almost ready to harvest.

In a testy confrontation with Karzai, tribal leaders and commanders from the
Helmand, Paktia and Nangahar provinces demanded leniency in implementing the
eradication policy, said a senior government official who spoke on condition
of anonymity, because so many farmers are unwilling to destroy a lucrative
crop.

The confrontation highlighted the lack of deep support for Karzai in Afghan
society. He needs to curb opium production to win the backing of the
international community, but doing so undercuts his position at home, where
local warlords still rule much of the country.

Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni said in an interview Wednesday that his
ministry was determined to continue its effort against opium production.

Qanooni said he was willing to sit down with local officials "to find a
solution that prevents the smuggling and cultivation of opium. We are
trying. We want to find a way so that people are not damaged."

Just two years ago, Afghanistan supplied about 70 percent of the world's
opium, according to CIA statistics, until the former Taliban regime cracked
down on poppy cultivation.

After the Taliban regime collapsed in the fall, many farmers who had once
cultivated poppies rushed back to plant the fields.

Last week, the Karzai government introduced a plan to pay farmers about $500
per acre to destroy their poppy crops, about a quarter of what they could
earn on the market. If they refuse to comply, the government said, it will
send police into the fields to tear up their plants.

The provincial officials warned Karzai that they would not be able to
enforce a strict edict to cut the crop out of the fields, because of local
opposition.

Reaction to Karzai's plan from farmers -- and from drug traffickers -- has
been swift and sometimes violent. On Sunday, for example, eight farmers were
killed and 16 wounded when a protest against the poppy eradication program
got out of hand in Helmand province, forcing police to open fire.

"You cannot expect to force the farmers to take their poppy out of the
fields at this late date," said Dr. Nasrat Wassimi, an Afghan-born plant
genetics expert now living in Arizona who is working to rebuild
Afghanistan's agricultural base. "What alternatives do they have?"