Afghanistan urges drug lords: Keep profits here

by reposted

Wed, Mar 15, 2006 4:21PM

LASHKARGAH: AFGHANISTAN WILL encourage its powerful drug lords to invest their illegally earned profits back into the war-shattered country, according to the governor of the nation’s top opium growing region.

The offer comes amid warnings of another bumper poppy crop that will fuel a booming narcotics trade that already accounts for 35 per cent of the impoverished nation’s income.

"We as a government will provide them the opportunity to use their money for the national benefit," said Helmand Gov. Moham-med Daud during a two-day trip this week to the region by United States Ambassador Ronald Neumann.

"They must invest in industries. They must invest in construction companies," he said.

So profitable is the drug trade that it employs about one in 10 Afghans and brought in US$2.8 billion last year, Afghan and U.S. officials say. The vast majority of that goes to traffickers and only a fraction to the impoverished farmers.

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=137482

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§ Afghan opium plantings expected to be up 40% from 2005

by more

Wed, Mar 15, 2006 4:22PM

In spite of the U.S. Government's "five pillar counternarcotics strategy" for combating narcotics in Afghanistan, approximately 140,000 hectares of poppies were planted in Afghanistan this year, according to the Associated Press. This would be an increase of about 40 per cent from 2005. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's Rapid Assessment Survey released last month indicates that poppy planting for 2006 increased in 13 provinces, decreased in only three and remained stable in 15.

Afghan government officials are asking the drug lords to invest their illegally earned profits in Afghanistan, according to Helmand Gov. Mohammed Daud, the governor of the biggest opium-growing region.

During a trip to the region by U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann, Daud said; "We as a government will provide them the opportunity to use their money for the national benefit."

The narcotics trade currently accounts for 35 per cent of Afghanistan's income.

The USA's "five pillar strategy" includes public information, alternative livelihoods, eradication, interdiction, and law enforcement/justice reform.

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=27988

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