POPPY CULTIVATION STARTS IN AFGHANISTAN

KABUL-The Afghan farmers have completed their field work to restore
the regrowing of opium crop in Afghanistan after years, which was
banned by the former Taliban regime.

According to a BBC report, this time of the year in Afghanistan and
in the tribal areas of Pakistan, one can assess the forthcoming
harvest, opium, the raw material of heroin. And for the Western
governments, concerned about the flow of heroin the news is bad.

The result of the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan is that
opium poppy, outlawed by the Taliban, is back in great quantity.

Luke Harding, a reporter with the Guardian newspaper, who is
investigating, told BBC "I don't want the Taliban back but I think
they were never given credit for eradicating opium across all the
areas they controlled. I would like to state it briefly that they did
this by force."

He said they sent guides with Klashnikov into villages and said if
did not stop growing poppy they would be sent to jail. This is a
strange post Taliban period. Fear elements have gone. Every body has
a growing piece of land and really, it will be a huge amount of
heroin coming out of Afghanistan this year, he added.

Replying to a question, Luke Harding said that one can earns a lot of
money from very little opium because Afghanistan has suffered a lot
from drought. It is extremely dry and the poppy is suited to
Afghanistan's arid climate. There is no shortage of businessmen
mainly from Iran and Pakistan and then it goes overland via Turkey
and via the third countries and then comes up to big cities of
Europe, he added.

When asked about the United Nations Drug Control Programme in
Afghanistan, a UN spokesman told BBC that there are strong
indications that the farmers have resorted to regrowing opium after
years that Taliban banned.

"Unfortunately we did not help farmers there since the terrorist
attacks and international intervention. But recently we have been
conducting our annual opium poppy show in Afghanistan. Field work has
been just completed and indications are there growing of opium is
taking place at high level. We have still got no figures. We will
have them some times next week but indications are that it is being
grown at high level," he added.

To another question, the spokesman said that they have traditionally
growing areas probably the only crop they could grow without
introducing new skills or technologies and there is, of course, the
element of desperation on part of Afghani farmers who have no
alternatives, who lost their whole income last year and they also
badly are affected by the drought in the country for many years. So
their desperation is probably something that drove them there even
though drug traffickers are also doing their best to encourage or to
even induce them to grow.

When asked it is too early to expect the interim government of Hamid
Karzai to do anything, the spokesman said "We have been very much
encouraged by their public statement on banning not only cultivation
as Taliban did but also trafficking abuse of opium that was more
comprehensive ban than Taliban issued.

He said the problem is of course that it would unrealistic to expect
the government to have effective drug control mechanisms in place and
therefore it is for the international community to help them.

"We have just reestablished our presence in Kabul last week and are
coordinating with all UN agencies there and this time, for the first
time, there is also international strategy. It is a comprehensive
strategy that will take time to implement and that is our main
concern that it takes time and on the other we have the harvest
approaching and that it would affect international drug market," he
remarked.