Embassy Participates in Counter Narcotics Roundtable at U.S. Institute of Peace
Political Counselor M. Ashraf Haidari discussed, “Afghanistan’s Drug Problem: Costs, Consequences and Counter-Narcotics Strategies,” at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) Afghanistan Working Group on May 15 in Washington, DC. Counselor Haidari focused on the link between increased drug production in Afghanistan and the country’s environment of poverty, instability and weak governance resulting from three decades of war. In light of the growing global demand for drugs, he identified drug eradication in Afghanistan as a shared responsibility of the international community and a long-term struggle. Other speakers included Ambassador Thomas Schweich, US Coordinator for Counter-Narcotics and Justice Reform in Afghanistan, and Mr. William Byrd, Economist at the World Bank. The discussion was moderated by Ms. Beth Cole DeGrasse, Coordinator for the USIP Afghanistan Working Group.
Haidari highlighted President Hamid Karzai’s firm commitment to counter-narcotics, which the President has called “Afghanistan’s most dangerous enemy.” He said: “In hundreds of provincial meetings and visits, President Karzai has stressed his commitment to eradicating narcotics in Afghanistan. The President has effectively garnered the full support of the Ulema, who passed a Fatwa in 2004 forbidding the cultivation, production, trafficking, and use of drugs throughout Afghanistan.”
In January 2006 Afghanistan’s Ministry of Counter Narcotics launched an updated National Drug Control Strategy with a focus on four national priorities in order to make the most sustainable impact on drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan. Haidari explained that the Afghan government has avoided an eradication-led strategy, as heavy handed eradication risks alienating destitute farmers, particularly in southern provinces where the goodwill of the people is the Coalition’s and the Afghan Government’s most valuable asset. However, he clarified that eradication is an integral pillar of Afghanistan’s Drug Control Strategy when used in a targeted manner in areas where alternative livelihoods exist. The Counselor also emphasized the need to reduce demand for opiates in Europe, Russia and Iran and called for increased regional and international cooperation against drug trafficking.
In response to a question on the effectiveness of aerial eradication by chemicals based on Colombia’s experience, Haidari stated, “Afghanistan is not Colombia. Colombia is a country with strong law enforcement institutions, limited cultivation of coca, and a GDP more than ten times that of Afghanistan, while in Afghanistan widespread poverty has compelled people to cultivate poppy for mere survival. If offered sustainable alternative livelihoods, our farmers would stop poppy cultivation.” After a campaign by President Karzai in 2005, thousands of farmers gave up poppy farming for alternative assistance, but as the UN Office on Drug and Crime 2005 report affirms, they went back to cultivation when the assistance did not materialize. Haidari pointed out that “our people have tired of war and are deeply traumatized. Any use of chemicals would not only further disturb them psychologically but also harm their health and destroy their legal subsistence crops on which they live.”
In discussing alternative development programs, Haidari said, “Afghanistan is not short of institutions, laws, strategies and programs, but we need the resources to build the capacity of the government to enforce and implement them. Donors must help us implement the Afghanistan National Development Strategy and achieve the five-year goals of the Afghanistan Compact.” He pointed out the National Solidarity Program (NSP) and the National Area Based Development Program (NABDP) as some of the most effective existing programs. He requested that Afghanistan’s key donors—the US and the European Union—ensure that their assistance match Afghanistan’s national priorities and in doing so use Afghan government institutions to deliver aid to the Afghan people. “The key to aid effectiveness is building sustainable Afghan institutions to do the job themselves once the international community has left,” Haidari commented.
To read the Counselor’s full remarks, please CLICK HERE
