Afghanistan sets up trust fund to fight drugs trade 29.10.2005 Afghanistan has set up a trust fund to manage the money it expects to receive in foreign aid for its war against illegal drugs, an official said on Saturday. Donors, foreign as well as Afghans, say they have spent $400 million so far this year on anti-drugs projects and in persuading local farmers to swap lucrative poppies for other crops. Afghanistan is looking for more money to help persuade farmers give up opium growing and to rebuild irrigation systems and roads destroyed by decades of war in the country. "In order to centralise the money and strengthen the process of the campaign, the government has set up a counter-narcotics trust fund," said Sayed Mohammad Azam, a spokesman for the ministry of counter narcotics. The announcement of the trust coincides with the start of poppy sowing in many parts of the country. The government fund would be managed by the United Nations Development Programme, he said, adding that the European Union had pledged 15 million euros ($18 million) to the fund. Some 90 percent of heroin in the EU comes from Afghanistan, which produces about 87 percent of the global supply. Opium production in Afghanistan has risen to record levels since the 2001 U.S.-led ousting of the then Taliban government. Last year, a U.N. report said if nothing was done, Afghanistan could turn into a lawless "narco-state" run by drug cartels. President Hamid Karzai has voiced his opposition to U.S.-led proposals for aerial spraying as it could feed instability in southern and eastern regions -- the main poppy growing areas and the focus of a Taliban insurgency. He has declared a war against narcotics but wants foreign aid for the farmers in return for destruction of their poppies. The government has in the past said that some provincial officials were involved in the drugs industry, but has not taken any steps against them. << | >> |
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