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Ferre
Cannabis Sacrament Minister.
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 7295
Location: Amsterdam
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 Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:11 pm Post subject: Aerial chemical sprays in Afghanistan |
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Aerial chemical sprays in Afghanistan
Karzai warns Afghan poppy farmers of world backlash
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned
farmers Tuesday to stop growing opium poppies which produce heroin or
the world would unite against them as it had against terrorism.
Action to eradicate the poppies could include aerial chemical sprays,
said Karzai, who has previously objected to spraying as a health hazard.
"The international community will join each other in destroying poppy
fields as they joined each other in defeating terrorism in our country,"
he told tribal and religious leaders in his home province of Kandahar in
the south.
Afghanistan produces about 87 percent of the world's illicit opium,
which props up the economy of the destitute nation.
Karzai was visiting Kandahar, a hotbed of attacks linked to Taliban
insurgents and drugs barons, at the start of the poppy planting season.
He survived an assassination attempt in the city in September 2002.
The crop has given the country a "bad name" among nations helping the
country rebuild after decades of war and the ouster of the hardline
Taliban government in late 2001, he said.
"I call upon elders and religious leaders to encourage people to not
cultivate poppy in their lands. If we don't stop it, the international
community will stop it," he said.
"They'll destroy poppy fields by any means, using chemical spray or
whatever."
Karzai said ambassadors of two foreign nations, which he did not
identify, had this year told him "we will use aerial spray to destroy
poppy fields."
"But I resisted," he said.
Karzai's objections to using toxic chemical sprays on poppy fields led
the U.S. State Department to put off plans this year to use the
technique in Afghanistan.
There have however been claims of some spraying, with villagers
complaining of skin diseases in February in Helmand and Nangarhar
provinces, the top opium-growing areas.
UN and U.S. reports released last week said the amount of land under
opium poppy cultivation had been cut for the first time since the fall
of the hardline Taliban.
The illegal heroin trade is however the largest and fastest growing
business sector in Afghanistan, accounting for 2.7 billion U.S. dollars
in profit a year, a Paris-based drugs think-tank, The Senlis Council,
said in a study in September.
tehrantimes.com, 30.11.05
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=11/30/2005&Cat=4&Num=2
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