18 January 2002

Afghan Drug Ban Hailed by U.N. Agency

The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP) is praising action by Afghanistan's interim administration to ban opium poppy cultivation as a "very important step in international drug control efforts," according to a press release from the U.N. Information Service (UNIS).

The order issued by Hamid Karzai, chairman of the administration, outlaws the production, processing, illicit use, smuggling and trafficking of all drugs. U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker has also praised the action, and expressed support for Afghan efforts to fulfill international commitments to combat drug trafficking.

Afghanistan has long been one of the world's major sources of heroin. U.S. intelligence reports indicate that the Taliban was involved in that drug trafficking activity.

UNODCCP will be advocating the improvement of counter-trafficking measures in international discussions of Afghan reconstruction. The January 17 UNIS press release suggests improving law enforcement and legal structures, identifying alternative crops, and establishing drug rehabilitation and prevention programs.

In a related development, a senior U.N. drug control official reported further anti-drug activity in Afghanistan. Bernard Frahi, who represents UNODCCP in Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters in Kabul January 16 that Pakistan had made "the world's largest heroin seizure ever," confiscating more than 900 kilograms of heroin and morphine trafficked out of Afghanistan.

"This first seizure represents the first gains in the battle against heroin," Frahi said, according to UNIS.

The official said UNODCCP was coordinating the efforts of drug enforcement agencies in the United States, Pakistan, Iran and the Central Asian States to increase the seizure of narcotics in the region.

Following is the text of the UNODCCP news release:

United Nations Information Service

U.N. Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention

17 January 2002

Opium Ban in Afghanistan: Important Step in Global Drug Control Efforts Says UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP)

Vienna, (UN Information Service) -- The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) says the ban on opium poppy cultivation announced this week in Afghanistan represents a very important step in international drug control efforts.

The ban on the production, processing and illicit use, smuggling and trafficking of drugs such as opium and all of its ingredients was announced by the Chairman of the Interim Administration in Afghanistan, Dr. Hamid Karzai, on Wednesday 16 January in Kabul.

ODCCP is working closely with the Interim Administration to ensure drug control remains high on the list of reconstruction priorities in Afghanistan. Certainly, the Interim Administration needs strong international support to put in place effective law enforcement and drug control mechanisms and as well as in offering Afghan farmers alternative means of livelihood.

As for the opium poppy ban, there are only two-three months to make this ban meaningful and effective for this year. There are reliable indications that opium poppy cultivation has resumed since October 2001 in some areas (such as the southern provinces Uruzgan, Helmand, Nangarhar and Kandahar) following the effective implementation of the Taliban ban on cultivation in 2001, not only because of the breakdown in law and order but also because the farmers are desperate to find a means of survival following the prolonged drought.

ODCCP has not been able to monitor these developments closely as there was no presence on the ground in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001. Now ODCCP is preparing for the annual opium poppy survey in Afghanistan. A pre-assessment study report will be ready by the end of February and the full survey will be completed by September this year.

For the ban to be effective and to ensure that the spring 2002 opium poppy harvest does not reach global drug markets, there is a need for a two-track approach. Firstly the Interim Administration needs help to establish effective law enforcement capacities and specifically a drug control commission in Kabul with drug control units in key provinces. At the same time, it needs to provide immediate assistance to Afghani farmers, landholders and sharecroppers as a first step in sustainable alternative development with commercial agricultural crops replacing opium poppy as the source of farmers' livelihood.

ODCCP has proposed a strategy for the next two and a half years for drug control efforts in Afghanistan, which will be considered at next week's Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan (21-22 January) in Tokyo.

The strategy sets out the following priorities on drug control:

• Establishing drug enforcement capacity within the new police force;

• Creating a legal framework in compliance with UN conventions on drugs, crime and terrorism;

• Formulating alternative livelihood strategies to opium poppy cultivation;

• Developing rural credit systems in major poppy growing areas;

• Formulating countrywide rehabilitation and prevention programs;

• Addressing the drug abuse situation countrywide.

The global importance of the ban on opium poppy cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan is enormous. In recent years Afghanistan has been the main source of illicit opium: 70 per cent of global illicit opium production in 2000 and up to 90 per cent of heroin in European drug markets originated from Afghanistan.

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