Aiding Afghan Farmers -- and Security
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One of the largest contributors to the rapid deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan has been the U.S.-led eradication of poppy crops ["Slipping in Afghanistan," editorial, Oct. 28]. By robbing farmers of their sole source of income, the international community has played directly into the hands of the Taliban.
For more than two years, the Senlis Council has proposed running poppy-for-medicine projects in the south of Afghanistan as a way for the country to escape its quagmire. Opium is the raw material for morphine, and allowing farmers to produce it and sell it for use in essential pain-relieving medicines could help Afghanistan diversify its economy while addressing the vast portion of the world's population that lacks access to these medicines.
According to a nationwide poll conducted in August by Ipsos-Reid, the American public agrees. Sixty-six percent of those polled supported poppy-for-medicine projects, and 7 in 10 were against U.S. calls for herbicide spraying in Afghanistan.
Such an initiative would go a long way toward winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan, which is the only way that security can ever be maintained there -- and the only way the Taliban can be defeated once again.
NORINE MacDONALD
President and Lead Field Researcher
Senlis Council
Paris
