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Afghanistan needs more help to eradicate opium

The world needs to invest more than US$2 billion in irrigation, roads and other rural development in Afghanistan to lure farmers away from booming opium cultivation, a World Bank report said yesterday.

The report, by the World Bank and the Britain-based Department for International Development, argued that the drug trade -- Afghanistan's top business -- can only be combatted if impoverished farmers have other means of making a living.

"Only as poor Afghan farmers gain other economic opportunities will they be able to be weaned away from dependence on opium production over time," William Byrd of the World Bank told reporters in Tokyo, where the report was released on the sidelines of an annual international conference on the country's reconstruction.

The report called for the more community-based development projects, expanded irrigation, increased use of livestock and assistance for rural businesses and entrepreneurs.

It recommended investments of US$1.2 billion to expand irrigated land, US$550 million to boost rural enterprise development, and US$400 million for rural road planning, construction and maintenance.

The money would be spent over up to 10 years, depending on the program.

The report's authors also called for greater coordination among Afghanistan's donors, who they said had failed to use their money in complementary ways.

"Assistance is fragmented with 62 donors, many with their own distinct security, political and development interests"' said Alastair McKechnie, Afghanistan country director for the World Bank.

Afghanistan representatives also appealed for help yesterday.

"We can only fight drugs in Afghanistan by the support of the international community," Acting Minister of Counter Narcotics Khodaidad, a former army general, told a news conference.

"We need the international community's support, our neighbors' support, to put more money to improve our police, to improve our counter narcotics police, to improve security resources and to block the border with our neighbors," he said.
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