UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said Afghanistan cannot be a stable country while our economy depends heavily on drug trade.While talking at an international conference, he urged countries involved in Afghanistan to step up the fight to combat poppy cultivation and drug business. He said there cannot be sustainable development when opium production is the only viable economic activity in Afghanistan. And added that there cannot be stability when 15 percent of our gross domestic product comes from drug trade.
The UN Secretary General said Afghanistan's drug economy is worth $2.4 billion. He emphasized that the Afghan Government must prioritize the issue of narcotics. Law enforcement agencies must work harder on eradication crops, eliminating laboratories, keeping precursors from entering the country.
According to a UN report released last year, poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has increased significantly. The report said there has been an increase of seven percent in the year 2011 compared to the year before that. The increase was reported despite the fact that Ministry of Antinarcotics had claimed to have destroyed 65 percent of the total cultivation that year.
The US and its NATO allies caught up in the prioritize of an exit strategy, are largely ignoring the focus on poppy eradication, and our Government with some bigwigs of the power corridor involved in drug profits have always been opposing effective and harsh programs of eradication.
Our neighboring countries including Russia have been calling for active anti-narcotics action in Afghanistan.
We have always argued that the Government and international forces should enforce the poppy eradication campaign. The war on poppy is forgotten. Aside from the fact that a huge part of the financial support to insurgents comes from transport and smuggling of opium, it's also exporting deaths to millions of people around the world, and the number of drug addicts increasing in Afghanistan. Taliban militants get $400 million a year through direct and indirect revenue from poppy cultivation, transportation and trade.
The Counter-Narcotics law is yet to go in effect. It was approved in 2009, but under the pretext of the so-called alternative programs, the Government has not implemented the law. Once this law goes into effect, there will be legal action against farmers who cultivate poppy crop. The punishment is not strict, but this law must be implemented and practiced strongly.
The Government and international community should step up efforts against poppy eradication.