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Eliminating Poppy Eradication in Afghanistan Beginning to Show Results

By Stephen Kaufman

The Obama administration's decision to eliminate poppy eradication in Afghanistan in favor of increasing drug interdiction efforts and assistance to Afghan farmers is beginning to show results, according to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.

Holbrooke, who returned from recent visits to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Belgium, told reporters in Washington July 28 that the phasing out of crop eradication by U.S. troops and other members of the International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan (ISAF) is "one of the most important policy shifts of the United States" since President Obama assumed office January 20.

U.S. and ISAF forces "are not going to go around assisting or participating in destruction of poppy fields anymore," he said. "All we did was alienate poppy farmers who were poor farmers, who were growing the best cash crop they could grow, in a market where they couldn't get other things to market."

In addition, "we were driving people into the hands of the Taliban," Holbrooke said.

Because of its extensive poppy cultivation, Afghanistan is the world's largest source of opium, and Taliban insurgents who are fighting the Afghan government and coalition forces have been using the drug trade as a source of revenue.

Holbrooke said the United States has "wasted hundreds of millions of dollars" on crop eradication. "The amount of hectarage we were destroying was inconsequential, and the amount of money we were denying the Taliban was zero," he said.

During his visit to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, Holbrooke said, he saw indications that the new strategy of increasing interdiction efforts by targeting drug dealers ultimately could prove successful.

U.S. and British troops located and destroyed "drug bazaars," which Holbrooke described as "marketplaces which sell drug paraphernalia, precursor chemicals, laboratory equipment," as well as opium and poppy seeds.

He said the result of one week of interdiction efforts was probably equivalent to several years of crop eradication.

"To me, in all the trips I made out there, this was the most gratifying thing, because it's nice to have theories and policies, but you got to see how they work on the ground," he said.

Along with interdiction, Holbrooke said the United States will be putting "hundreds of millions of dollars" into supporting Afghan agriculture, including the deployment of agricultural development teams run by U.S. National Guard units, as well as teams made up of personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The special envoy said the U.S. agricultural assistance has been the "most well received change in American policy" among Afghans.

Until the 1978 invasion by the Soviet Union, Afghanistan exported agricultural goods such as pomegranates, wine, pistachio nuts and over half of the world's raisins, Holbrooke said. "The Afghans are great farmers," he said, "but they need help. And we're going to do an overall effort."

Asked about the country's national security forces, Holbrooke said Afghanistan's current levels of army and police personnel "are not going to be sufficient" in the long term. After the country's August 20 presidential and provincial elections, he said, the United States and others who have been assisting with the training and equipping of the forces will work with the new government to "see what the needs are and then ... how we can support them."

He said the six-nation European Gendarmerie Force, headquartered in Italy, is sending personnel to train Afghan police. Holbrooke also praised Japan for paying the salaries of Afghanistan's police forces, saying the Japanese have "not been given sufficient credit for their extraordinary act."

What foreign affairs decisions should President Obama consider? Comment on America.gov's blog Obama Today ( http://blogs.america.gov/obama/2009/01/21/day-2-what-should-obama%e2%80%99s-top-priorities-be/ ).

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)