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Kabul pans UK for radio message on poppy cultivation

Afghan officials have reprimanded British diplomats over a campaign by UK troops in Helmand Province telling farmers that growing poppies was understandable and acceptable.

A radio message broadcast across the province assured local farmers that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would not interfere with poppy fields being harvested.

"Respected people of Helmand. The soldiers of ISAF and ANA [Afghan National Army] do not destroy poppy fields," it said. "They know that many people of Afghanistan have no choice but to grow poppy. ISAF and the ANA do not want to stop people from earning their livelihoods."

The advertisement, which was drafted by British officers and carried on two local stations, infuriated Afghan officials as high up as Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who demanded an explanation.

The Afghan government has been under intense pressure to smash the burgeoning drug trade. Last year opium cultivation soared 59 percent, earning traffickers an estimated ?1.2 billion (US$2.4 billion), the UN said.

The rise was concentrated in Helmand, which is the source of much of the heroin sold in the UK.

"This was an error by ISAF," Ministry of Counter Narcotics spokesman Zalmay Afzali said. "We have asked ISAF to avoid such problems in the future because it can create a hell of a problem. We hope it will not happen again."

After a series of stormy meetings, NATO announced on Wednesday it was dropping the ads.

"We recognized this was a mistake and addressed it as soon as possible," spokesman Nicholas Lunt said.

A British military spokesman said the ads were intended to counter Taliban propaganda that British soldiers had moved to the Sangin Valley, a hotbed of cultivation, to destroy farmers' livelihoods.

"The dilemma was that the poppy harvest was taking place and people would take up arms and fight us," Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Mayo said. "They have to understand that we are here to kill the Taliban, not to cut down their poppy."

Mayo admitted the wording of the message was "open to misinterpretation" and said that after complaints from the local governor, Asadullah Wafa, it was removed and an apology issued.

A drugs official played down the incident, saying the message had been drafted by a newly arrived territorial army officer who "got a bit carried away with the language."

But it exposes tension inside western policy in Afghanistan centered on arguments about trying to eradicate poppies while fighting a dogged insurgency.
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