Afghan concern at opium spraying

The government said a probe had shown poppies in two districts of Nangarhar province had been sprayed by air without authorisation.

The US and British denied any involvement in such activities.

The UN recently warned that Afghanistan could become a drug state after opium cultivation rose two-thirds this year.

The warning coincided with a US announcement of a major new offensive against drug production in Afghanistan.

'National integrity'

The Afghan government said villagers in Nangarhar had complained of feeling unwell after the mystery spraying two weeks ago.

A local doctor, Mohammed Rafi Safi, told the AFP news agency he had treated 30 farmers who claimed their fields had been sprayed with herbicide.

Presidential spokesman, Jawed Ludin, told a news conference: "It is not just serious for us because of some health problems, it is not just serious for us because it harms the other crops, it is being taken very seriously because it affects the national integrity of our country."

Mr Ludin said he had held talks with foreign officials to express the Afghan government's opposition to spraying.

He said US and British officials had given the president assurances that they had "never in the past and will never in the future support any aerial spraying either directly or indirectly".

An investigation is continuing in Nangarhar with soil samples taken from the Shinwar and Khogyani districts.

Last week, US military spokesman Major Mark McCann said: "US troops are not involved in eradication, which would include the spraying of poppy fields which we do not do."

UN report

Nangarhar provincial governor Din Mohammed said he was in no doubt there had been an aerial spraying.

"I don't know who might be behind this but... the airspace of Afghanistan is under the control of the United States," he said.

Villager Zarawar Khan said he saw "a huge plane flying very low" and spraying a snow-like substance on crops.

This month, the UN said Afghanistan could become a "narco-state".

It said the country now supplied 87% of world opium. In 2003, the trade was worth $2.8bn, representing more than 60% of gross domestic product.

It urged the US and Nato forces to fight drugs as well as Taleban insurgents.

The UN report came as Washington said it expected to spend an extra $780m in the next financial year on measures including the eradication of poppies and alternatives for farmers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4054657.stm

KABUL - The United States has had no involvement in aerial spraying of opium poppies in Afghanistan, its ambassador said on Thursday, adding that any such work might have been done by drug lords to stir up tensions.


The Afghan government has expressed concern about reports of a mystery spraying of opium fields in the eastern province of Nangarhar last month and is investigating whether this had caused rashes, diarrhoea and other illnesses in children.

It has conveyed this concern both to the United States -- which is seeking tougher action to curb Afghanistan's massive opium and heroin output and backs a controversial chemical spraying programme in Colombia -- and Britain, which is heading an international programme to curb Afghan drug production.

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http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/28403/story.htm

Afghan government condemns spraying of opium crops by mystery aircraft

KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has lodged a protest with British and U.S. officials after a mystery aircraft sprayed herbicide on opium crops without authorization, his spokesman said Tuesday.

Villagers in eastern Nangarhar province complained two weeks ago that a plane had dusted their fields and villages with a chemical that killed their crops and made them sick.

The government ordered an investigation, which confirmed that a substance had been sprayed in two districts, probably from the air, spokesman Jawed Ludin said, and prompted a sharp rebuke from the president.

"It is not serious for us because of some health problems, it is not just serious for us because it harms the other crops, it is being taken very seriously because it affects the national integrity of our country,'' Ludin told a news conference.

The United Nations warned earlier this month that Afghanistan risked turning into a "narco-state'' because of skyrocketing cultivation of opium poppies, a business which supplies most of the world's opium and heroin.

U.S. experts who were brought in to tackle the trade, which is believed to fund militants fighting American troops here, are studying the use of crop-dusters to destroy poppy fields.

But Afghan officials have opposed the tactic, which observers warn would be deeply unpopular because of its toll on legal crops, villagers and livestock.

Ludin said Karzai held talks with the ambassador for Britain, which is coordinating the country's anti-drug effort, and other foreign officials to reinforce his opposition to spraying.

He said an investigation of soil samples taken in the Shinwar and Khogyani districts of Nangarhar was still going on and that the government had yet to discover who was responsible.

"The governments of the United States of America and Britain have assured us that they also strongly subscribe to the policy that the government has on aerial spraying,'' Ludin said.

He said Karzai received assurances that they "have never in the past and will never in the future support any aerial spraying either directly or indirectly.''-

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/11/30/latest/19937Afghangov&sec=latest

“It is not just serious for us because of some health problems or because it harms the other crops, (but) it is being taken very seriously because it affects the national integrity of our country,'' Jawed Ludin was quoted by the Associated Press as telling a news conference.

Afghan villagers in eastern Nangarhar province had complained to the government two weeks ago that a plane had dusted their fields and villages with a chemical substance that killed their opium crops and made them sick.

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-11/30/article04.shtml