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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
Opium crop grows near Australian troop base
    #13323746 - 10/11/10 11:39 PM (13 years, 7 months ago)

Opium crop grows near Australian troop base
October 12, 2010 - theage.com.au

MORE than half the fields surrounding the main Australian base in Afghanistan are being used to grow opium poppies, as coalition forces struggle to ween locals off the lucrative crop.

Locals question why troops and police have failed to crack down on the semi-open sale of the poppies, according to the report of a respected non-governmental organisation.

While the allied forces in Oruzgan province have had some success in convincing locals to grow wheat, fruit and saffron, opium poppies are still the province's biggest cash crop.
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"Locals find it hard to comprehend why military forces or Afghan National Police have not intervened into poppy cultivation or sale so close to the district centre of Tarin Kowt, and blame it on corruption," The Liaison Office says in its report, which analyses the four years of Dutch control of the province.

"There are indeed allegations that several pro-government strongmen, and not just the insurgency, are involved in the drug trade."

"Furthermore, the fact that there are semi-open poppy bazaars in both Deh Rawud and Tarin Kowt adds to the perception of impunity."

As long as opium fetches higher prices than other crops, the report says, it will be difficult to stamp out.

Meanwhile, a prominent academic has accused the federal government and opposition of exaggerating progress of the war in Afghanistan, which he instead compared to a quagmire of Vietnam War proportions.

Professor Amin Saikal, director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, lashed out at the US strategy in Afghanistan in a speech at the Australian National University last night.

The stated aim of Australia's troop deployment was to train the Afghan national army in Oruzgan province, but Professor Saikal said it would be years before the Afghan army could engage in a major battle on its own because of internal ethnic divisions. ''How many troops have we trained in Oruzgan that have been proven to be reliable?'' he asked.

The evidence pointed to the situation continuing to favour the Taliban and its supporters, including Pakistan's military intelligence agency, he said.

"The Australian government and the opposition are exaggerating the level of Australia's achievement in Afghanistan," he said in an interview with The Age.

Professor Saikal said the political system in Afghanistan needed massive reform to create an institution the majority of Afghan people could identify with. The corruption of the current parliament meant more people were likely to identify with the Taliban.

''The Taliban's projection of themselves as the forceful defender of faith, country and honour, as well as provider of better security and living conditions, has increasingly gained wider … resonance among the Afghan people,'' he said.

Professor Saikal said the number of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan now surpassed the troop levels of the Soviet Union during its decade-long occupation.

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