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Holbrooke slams US approach to poppy eradication

The US-led drive to eradicate opium poppy fields in Afghanistan is a waste of money that plays into the hands of Taliban insurgents, a former US ambassador to the UN said on Wednesday.

Richard Holbrooke, writing in the Washington Post, said US President George W. Bush's vocal support in the last two years for aerial spraying of poppy fields highlighted what was wrong with US policy.

His remarks "are part of the story behind the spectacularly unsuccessful US counter-narcotics program in Afghanistan," Holbrooke wrote.

He said "fortunately" Bush backed down from backing aerial spraying because the Afghan government and the international community argued it would "create a backlash against" Kabul and Washington.

"But even without aerial eradication, the program, which costs one billion dollars a year, may be the single most ineffective program in the history of American foreign policy," Holbrooke wrote.

"It's not just a waste of money. It actually strengthens the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as criminal elements within Afghanistan," he wrote.

He cited statistics from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime showing the area under opium cultivation increased to 193,000 hectares last year from 165,000 in 2006.

"The program destroys crops in insecure areas, especially in the south, where the Taliban is strongest," he wrote.

"This policy pushes farmers with no other source of livelihood into the arms of the Taliban without reducing the total amount of opium being produced," he said.

"Meanwhile, there is far too little effort made against the drug lords and high-ranking government officials who are at the heart of the huge drug trade in Afghanistan," he said.
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