The US announced a new drug policy Saturday for opium-rich Afghanistan, saying it was phasing out funding for eradication efforts and using the money for drug interdiction and alternate crop programs instead.
The US envoy for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, told The Associated Press that eradication programs weren’t working and were only driving farmers into the hands of the Taliban. "Eradication is a waste of money," Holbrooke said on the sidelines of a Group of Eight foreign ministers’ meeting on Afghanistan.
The UN has estimated the Taliban and other Afghan militants made an estimated $50 million to $70 million off the opium and heroin trade last year. In a report released earlier this week, the UN drug office said opium cultivation had dropped by 19 per cent last year, but was still concentrated in three southern provinces where the Taliban insurgency is strongest.
Holbrooke said the previous US policy, which focused on eradication programs, hadn’t reduced "by one dollar" the amount of money the Taliban earned off opium cultivation and production. "It might destroy some acreage," Holbrooke said. "But it just helped the Taliban." "We’re essentially phasing out our support for crop eradication and using the money to work on interdiction, rule of law, alternate crops," he said. At the same time, Washington is upgrading its support of agriculture programs.
Holbrooke said, ‘’The farmers are not our enemy, they’re just growing a crop to make a living,’’ he said. "It’s the drug system. So the US policy was driving people into the hands of the Taliban."
