Aid organisations called on the US administration yesterday to focus its counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan on arresting drug traffickers and creating economic alternatives for farmers rather than eradicating opium poppies.
In a letter to Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, 31 non-governmental organisations with operations in Afghanistan said eradication had "the potential to turn millions of Afghans against a government which is struggling to extend its reach". Destroying poppy crops could "devastate already poor families without giving rural development projects sufficient time to provide alternative sources of income", the letter said.
