NO-OPIUM ZONE

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of illicit opium, which is
refined into heroin.

Afghanistan's opium crop of 3,656 metric tons accounted for 72 percent of
the world's illicit opium in 2000. It increased to 5,000 metric tons and
accounted for 75 percent of the world's illicit opium in 2001.

Poppy is cultivated at the expense of wheat and other food crops
desperately needed by the people of Afghanistan, and is planted on the best
available land with productive soils, irrigation and fertilizer, not on
previously uncultivated or marginal lands. This month at a conference in
Tokyo, international aid for Afghanistan is expected to total $7 billion to
$9 billion for rebuilding the country. The question: With what conditions?
Will there be any oversight group to ensure that elimination of the illicit
cultivation of opium poppy is guaranteed and a condition of international aid?

Since narcotics-related income historically strengthened the Taliban's
capacity to provide support for international terrorism, why would we think
for a nanosecond that this is going to change without absolute conditions
on the international aid with a powerful oversight group to monitor and manage?

How about a No Opium Zone similar to the No Fly Zones that are a necessity
for world peace in the Middle East?

EVERETT BOSWELL

Bluewater Bay