thedrifter
01-25-09, 06:52 AM
MILITARY: Opium production fuels Afghan insecurity
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
As the Obama administration forges plans to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, one of its biggest challenges is disrupting a thriving opium trade that provides a steady stream of money for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
The poppy that produces opium and heroin and fuels the international drug trade is a vexing problem for military and civilian leaders: Poppy cultivation is the chief source of income for a large segment of the Afghan population, and an equally lucrative replacement is needed if the civilian population is to remain supportive of the government.
"We have to supplant the opium crop with something else," said Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-El Cajon, a former U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan last year and is the newest member of the House Armed Services Committee.
"To just go in and destroy it would be like going into Iraq and destroying their oil fields," he said during a telephone interview. "If we do that, we lose the support of the people."
Replacing the poppy will not come easily or without resistance ---- it funnels an estimated $350 million a year to the hardline Muslim Taliban ousted from power shortly after the U.S. invasion in October 2001, according to a United Nations report.
A top Marine Corps general acknowledged the difficulty facing the U.S., NATO and Afghan government in trying to address poppy cultivation.
"It's highly complex and subject to many different interpretations," said the general, who spoke on the condition his name not be used. "But it is a key story about the situation confronting progress in Afghanistan."
On Friday, another Marine general, Marine Corps Commandant James Conway, told reporters he is shaping a plan that could put 20,000 Marines in Afghanistan this year. The Marines are likely to be assigned to the regions where increased poppy production parallels rising attacks against U.S. and NATO troops.
Despite that apparent link, Conway said those troops won't take direct action against the narcotics trade.
The U.S. is expected to send as many as 30,000 more troops, joining the 34,000 already there and about 51,000 from other NATO countries.
Production swells
Opium production in Afghanistan has more than doubled since 2003, when farmers produced 3,600 metric tons, according to U.N. statistics. Five years later, the crop was put at 7,700 metric tons, or 93 percent of the production worldwide.
Last year's crop was slightly smaller than that produced in 2007, when Afghan farmers turned out 8,200 metric tons, according to the U.N. statistics
As production has increased, so have the number of attacks by anti-government forces led by the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. In 2007, there were 3,704 attacks recorded throughout the country, according to the Brookings Institution. The nonprofit public policy center in Washington produces a periodic Afghanistan Index, compiling its information from a variety of sources.
Last year, the deadliest for U.S. troops with 155 killed, the number of attacks jumped to 5,602. A 77 percent increase ---- 1,785 attacks versus 1,010 in 2007 ---- was recorded in the region that encompasses the Kandahar and Helmand provinces where the Marines are expected to more than triple their forces this year.
The spike in attacks, Marine commanders say, occurred in part because more Marines took the offensive in hunting the Taliban. But they also privately acknowledged the correlation between the opium trade and increasing violence.
So does NATO.
"There is a clear linkage between the narcotics trade and financing of the insurgency, with that money paying for weapons, explosives and suicide bombers that kill civilians, Afghan security forces and (coalition) troops," NATO spokeswoman Isabelle MacDonald said in a written response to inquiries about the opium trade.
About 2,000 Marines are now in Afghanistan, including Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466 from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
NATO's position
Under current rules, Afghan authorities are responsible for counter-narcotics efforts. But MacDonald said the country's army and security forces are ill-equipped for the culturally and economically sensitive mission.
"They do not yet have the capability to address the problem fully themselves," she said. "We see a vicious cycle where opium is grown in areas where governance is weakest. In turn, this funds the insurgency, creating further challenges to government control."
In October, the International Security Assistance Force, the umbrella organization overseeing U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan, agreed to work in concert with the Afghans against "facilities and facilitators supporting the insurgency."
The directive means that NATO and U.S. troops now have the authority to perform drug seizures if discovered in the course of routine operations or if asked for help by the Afghan government.
While the U.S. and international military forces working to defeat the Taliban and stabilize an often corrupt and inefficient national government won't take part in any direct poppy eradication, MacDonald said there is recognition that reducing production is key.
"The elimination of the illicit opium trade is vital to long-term security, development and effective governance," she said.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged the increasing need to target the drug trade but stopped short of addressing the poppy cultivation that provides the basis for that activity.
"We clearly have to go after the drug labs and the drug lords that provide support to the Taliban and to other insurgents," Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
He also said he recently approved changes in the rules of engagement toward that end.
"If we have evidence ... then they're fair game," he said.
Outbid the drug kings
Jason Campbell, who helps compile the Brookings' Afghanistan Index, said NATO countries for years have all "passed the buck" on the opium issue.
"Even within U.S. policy circles, there seems to be a good amount of disagreement on how to best approach the problem," he said. "The paradox is that while everyone is on board in acknowledging the problem and the link to the insurgency, stories of frustration over a lack of action are growing."
A Camp Pendleton colonel, who agreed to talk about the matter privately, recounted a visit to Afghanistan several months ago. The helicopter he was in landed in a lush, green field near the site of a meeting between Marine officers and British counterparts.
The field turned out to be a young poppy crop, and one of the British troops told the Marines that every time a military helicopter landed in the field, the farmer turned in a bill for damages and reparations were paid.
"I said, 'But I thought we were supposed to be helping eradicate it,' " the colonel recalled. "The Brit just shrugged his shoulders."
John Pike, founder of the military monitoring group GlobalSecurity.org in Washington, said the Afghan opium issue is "the stinking 800-pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about."
Pike agreed that with 70 percent of the Afghan population tied to agriculture, simply eradicating a crop that has been produced for centuries and is steeped in tradition isn't the answer.
Instead, he said in all seriousness, the West should simply buy it, convert it to medicinal morphine rather than illicit heroin, and give it away.
"This is business," he said. "Everything you thought you knew about counter-insurgency and winning hearts and minds is irrelevant if you take away people's livelihood.
"The only solution I see is, we ought to outbid the drug lords and do our own refining, and then donate it as medicine to Third World countries."
That should be a strategy given serious consideration as the Marine Corps and the Obama administration make plans to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, Pike said.
"We are preparing to pour a pretty good-sized amount of new blood and treasure into Afghanistan with no other describable theory of victory today apart from sending more troops," he said. "Before we get too far down that road, if outbidding the drug kings is a wrong-headed idea, I would like to see someone prove that to me."
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
As the Obama administration forges plans to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, one of its biggest challenges is disrupting a thriving opium trade that provides a steady stream of money for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
The poppy that produces opium and heroin and fuels the international drug trade is a vexing problem for military and civilian leaders: Poppy cultivation is the chief source of income for a large segment of the Afghan population, and an equally lucrative replacement is needed if the civilian population is to remain supportive of the government.
"We have to supplant the opium crop with something else," said Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-El Cajon, a former U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan last year and is the newest member of the House Armed Services Committee.
"To just go in and destroy it would be like going into Iraq and destroying their oil fields," he said during a telephone interview. "If we do that, we lose the support of the people."
Replacing the poppy will not come easily or without resistance ---- it funnels an estimated $350 million a year to the hardline Muslim Taliban ousted from power shortly after the U.S. invasion in October 2001, according to a United Nations report.
A top Marine Corps general acknowledged the difficulty facing the U.S., NATO and Afghan government in trying to address poppy cultivation.
"It's highly complex and subject to many different interpretations," said the general, who spoke on the condition his name not be used. "But it is a key story about the situation confronting progress in Afghanistan."
On Friday, another Marine general, Marine Corps Commandant James Conway, told reporters he is shaping a plan that could put 20,000 Marines in Afghanistan this year. The Marines are likely to be assigned to the regions where increased poppy production parallels rising attacks against U.S. and NATO troops.
Despite that apparent link, Conway said those troops won't take direct action against the narcotics trade.
The U.S. is expected to send as many as 30,000 more troops, joining the 34,000 already there and about 51,000 from other NATO countries.
Production swells
Opium production in Afghanistan has more than doubled since 2003, when farmers produced 3,600 metric tons, according to U.N. statistics. Five years later, the crop was put at 7,700 metric tons, or 93 percent of the production worldwide.
Last year's crop was slightly smaller than that produced in 2007, when Afghan farmers turned out 8,200 metric tons, according to the U.N. statistics
As production has increased, so have the number of attacks by anti-government forces led by the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. In 2007, there were 3,704 attacks recorded throughout the country, according to the Brookings Institution. The nonprofit public policy center in Washington produces a periodic Afghanistan Index, compiling its information from a variety of sources.
Last year, the deadliest for U.S. troops with 155 killed, the number of attacks jumped to 5,602. A 77 percent increase ---- 1,785 attacks versus 1,010 in 2007 ---- was recorded in the region that encompasses the Kandahar and Helmand provinces where the Marines are expected to more than triple their forces this year.
The spike in attacks, Marine commanders say, occurred in part because more Marines took the offensive in hunting the Taliban. But they also privately acknowledged the correlation between the opium trade and increasing violence.
So does NATO.
"There is a clear linkage between the narcotics trade and financing of the insurgency, with that money paying for weapons, explosives and suicide bombers that kill civilians, Afghan security forces and (coalition) troops," NATO spokeswoman Isabelle MacDonald said in a written response to inquiries about the opium trade.
About 2,000 Marines are now in Afghanistan, including Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466 from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
NATO's position
Under current rules, Afghan authorities are responsible for counter-narcotics efforts. But MacDonald said the country's army and security forces are ill-equipped for the culturally and economically sensitive mission.
"They do not yet have the capability to address the problem fully themselves," she said. "We see a vicious cycle where opium is grown in areas where governance is weakest. In turn, this funds the insurgency, creating further challenges to government control."
In October, the International Security Assistance Force, the umbrella organization overseeing U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan, agreed to work in concert with the Afghans against "facilities and facilitators supporting the insurgency."
The directive means that NATO and U.S. troops now have the authority to perform drug seizures if discovered in the course of routine operations or if asked for help by the Afghan government.
While the U.S. and international military forces working to defeat the Taliban and stabilize an often corrupt and inefficient national government won't take part in any direct poppy eradication, MacDonald said there is recognition that reducing production is key.
"The elimination of the illicit opium trade is vital to long-term security, development and effective governance," she said.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged the increasing need to target the drug trade but stopped short of addressing the poppy cultivation that provides the basis for that activity.
"We clearly have to go after the drug labs and the drug lords that provide support to the Taliban and to other insurgents," Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
He also said he recently approved changes in the rules of engagement toward that end.
"If we have evidence ... then they're fair game," he said.
Outbid the drug kings
Jason Campbell, who helps compile the Brookings' Afghanistan Index, said NATO countries for years have all "passed the buck" on the opium issue.
"Even within U.S. policy circles, there seems to be a good amount of disagreement on how to best approach the problem," he said. "The paradox is that while everyone is on board in acknowledging the problem and the link to the insurgency, stories of frustration over a lack of action are growing."
A Camp Pendleton colonel, who agreed to talk about the matter privately, recounted a visit to Afghanistan several months ago. The helicopter he was in landed in a lush, green field near the site of a meeting between Marine officers and British counterparts.
The field turned out to be a young poppy crop, and one of the British troops told the Marines that every time a military helicopter landed in the field, the farmer turned in a bill for damages and reparations were paid.
"I said, 'But I thought we were supposed to be helping eradicate it,' " the colonel recalled. "The Brit just shrugged his shoulders."
John Pike, founder of the military monitoring group GlobalSecurity.org in Washington, said the Afghan opium issue is "the stinking 800-pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about."
Pike agreed that with 70 percent of the Afghan population tied to agriculture, simply eradicating a crop that has been produced for centuries and is steeped in tradition isn't the answer.
Instead, he said in all seriousness, the West should simply buy it, convert it to medicinal morphine rather than illicit heroin, and give it away.
"This is business," he said. "Everything you thought you knew about counter-insurgency and winning hearts and minds is irrelevant if you take away people's livelihood.
"The only solution I see is, we ought to outbid the drug lords and do our own refining, and then donate it as medicine to Third World countries."
That should be a strategy given serious consideration as the Marine Corps and the Obama administration make plans to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, Pike said.
"We are preparing to pour a pretty good-sized amount of new blood and treasure into Afghanistan with no other describable theory of victory today apart from sending more troops," he said. "Before we get too far down that road, if outbidding the drug kings is a wrong-headed idea, I would like to see someone prove that to me."
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie