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Afghanistan

Answer

The UK believes that the Government of Afghanistan's recently updated national drug control strategy represents the best means of securing a sustainable reduction on the production and trafficking of opiates in Afghanistan. The strategy highlights four key priorities. These are: disrupting the drugs trade by targeting traffickers and their backers; strengthening and diversifying legal rural livelihoods; developing effective state institutions to combat drugs at the central and provincial level; reducing the demand for illicit drugs and treatment for problem drug users. The strategy also states that there is a role for targeted ground-based eradication where alternative livelihoods exist, in order to incentivise the shift away from poppy cultivation.The UK does not carry out eradication, but we do support Afghan eradication activity where alternative livelihoods exist. We have therefore provided support to the planning, monitoring and targeting work of the Government of Afghanistan's central eradication planning and monitoring cell. We have also funded a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime project to verify governor-led eradication and provided funding to support targeted eradication by the Afghan national police.On licensing of opium production, the Afghan Minister for counter narcotics has said:"““The poor security situation in the country means there can simply be no guarantee that opium will not be smuggled out of the country for the illicit narcotics trade abroad. Without an effective control mechanism, a lot of opium will still be refined into heroin for illicit markets in the West and elsewhere. We could not accept this.””"The UK agrees with and supports the Government of Afghanistan's position.We do not believe that licensing opium cultivation in Afghanistan is a realistic solution to the problems of the opium economy in Afghanistan. In the absence of a strong state presence throughout the country there is currently too high a risk of diversion of legally produced opium into illegal channels, and overall levels of illicit cultivation could increase as a result.Helping Afghan farmers develop viable commercial crops as feasible economic alternatives to poppy is an important part of the UK's support. But farmers also need access to credit, land and markets, alternative employment opportunities (on and off the farm) infrastructure such as irrigation and roads to help grow and transport produce; and government emergency mechanisms to ensure food security. The UK is supporting the Government of Afghanistan to deliver in all of these areas, to enforce the Afghan law against growing poppy and inject risk into the system through a credible drugs law enforcement and manual poppy field eradication threat. Only in this way will we make a sustainable impact on cultivation and production.The UK will spend over £270 million over this and the next two financial years in support of the national drugs control strategy. During this period, £130 million will be spent on legal rural livelihoods (including research into alternative crops) and institutional development by the Department for International Development. In 2005–06 the UK spent £6 million in support of Afghan eradication and related activity and £30 million in support of activity to target the trafficker (for law enforcement and criminal justice action) and the top end of the trade. We envisage that similar budgets will be allocated to these activities in 2006–08. The UK does not support licensing and no budget was allocated to this as a result.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

48927; 442 c1445-7W;442 c1445-7W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Crops Agriculture Development aid Drugs International assistance Production Afghanistan Opium

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk