05 April 2002

U.S. Supports Ban on Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan

U.S. to promote alternative livelihoods for Afghan farmers

The United States strongly supports the Afghan Interim Authority's ban on opium poppy cultivation, State Department Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement issued in Washington April 5.

The United States will fund short-term, cash-for-work projects for laborers in poppy areas and medium-term and long-term projects on developing alternative livelihoods and effective law enforcement in Afghanistan, the statement said.

Following is the text of Reeker's statement:

U.S. Department of State
Office of the Spokesman

April 5, 2002

Statement by Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman

Afghanistan Implements Ban on Opium Poppy Cultivation

The United States strongly supports the Afghan Interim Authority's plan to implement its poppy ban and we look forward to working closely with the Afghan Interim Authority to make it successful. On January 16, the Afghan Interim Authority issued a decree banning the cultivation, processing, and trafficking of opiates. The Afghan Interim Authority subsequently announced on April 4 that it will implement, with international community funding, a compensation program that offers cultivators approximately $1,200 per hectare of eradicated opium.

The United States will support this partial compensation program with short-term cash-for-work projects for laborers in poppy areas. The United States will also continue efforts to interdict the flow of opium into international markets by strengthening the law enforcement and judicial capacities of Afghanistan's neighbors.

In the medium and long term, we will also support programs aimed at developing alternative livelihoods and effective law enforcement in Afghanistan that will enable the country to replace the opium-based rural economy with legal ways to earn a living.

In the late 1990s, Afghanistan became the largest producer of the world's supply of opium and heroin. It continued to be the world's major supplier of illegal opiates even after the Taliban's ban on opium poppy cultivation in July 2000.

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