The battle for hearts and minds

As reported in The Guardian (27th April) the Afghan government and NATO have been embroiled in a row after the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced to local poppy growers over the radio that ISAF understood why farmers needed to grow opium and that ISAF would not be engaging in crop eradication.

On the face of it ISAF's ad campaign sounds ridiculous; the West have been pressurising President Karzai's government to clamp down on opium production while Afghan heroin supplies virtually the whole of the UK market. Surely ISAF should be in there with flame-throwers at the ready?

But while ISAF have stopped the announcements, it still refuses to become involved in crop eradication. NATO argues that the sight of western soldiers slashing through poppy fields could drive hundreds of farmers into the arms of the Taliban. Western soldiers say their main job is to provide security so the Afghan government can tackle opium growing. To win support from sceptical farmers, British officers are at pains to distance themselves from poppy eradication efforts. "It's all about the civilians. They have to understand that we are here to kill the Taliban, not to cut down their poppy," said Lieutenant Charlie Mayo, a British military spokesman. There have even been rumours that British forces have exchanged fire with personnel under American command trying to attack poppy fields.

The dilemma over Afghanistan's opium economy is emphasised in a new book published by Pluto,'Drugs in Afghanistan: opium, outlaws and scorpion tales' by Dave MacDonald who was a field officer for the UN Office of Drugs and Crime in Kabul. MacDonald demonstrates that opium growing in structurally embedded in Afghan culture - a relationship between people and plant which goes back centuries. As Dr Richard Jones points out in reviewing the book for the forthcoming issue of Druglink, only time and commitment can help resolve the opium issue not just cash - and certainly not Rambo-style military interventions.