WORLD SERVICE
Britain to support Afghanistan�s bid to eradicate poppy growing, Blair tells World Service listeners
In an interview on BBC World Service, the British Prime Minister said he supported the initiative by
the Interim Administration in Afghanistan to destroy this year�s poppy crop.

Tony Blair�s statement of support follows a decree issued yesterday (Thursday 4 April) by Hamid
Karzai, the leader of the interim government in Afghanistan, which offers farmers payment to
destroy their opium crop or risk arrest.
“Something like 90 per cent of the heroin on British streets comes from Afghanistan, 70 per cent of
the world heroin does. Many of these farmers are poor people in Afghanistan who know no other
way. We�ve got to make sure that we do not just destroy the crop but also offer them a better
prospect for the future. We are prepared to fund that, prepared to put resources behind it in order
to make sure that the farmers are given an alternative, lucrative source of cultivation,” he said.

Interviewed by Baqer Moin of the BBC World Service at Downing Street today, the Prime Minister
said: “We need something that works not just for this year but also for a longer period of time. The
way to achieve that – apart from the short term step of destroying the crop – is to make sure that we
are helping the local farming communities. They don�t make big money out of heroin – the big
money is made by the drug dealers in Europe and America. But the essence is to offer those local
farmers and communities a different and better way of tilling their land, of growing things properly
in a law abiding way. They will actually find in the medium and long term that it is better for them
and their families and local communities.”

Asked whether British troops would be involved in stopping the drug trade in Afghanistan, Tony
Blair said: “These are separate operations. I won�t go into the operational details yet but we�re
working very closely with the Interim Authority to make sure that the proposal succeeds.

“The most important thing is that people in those communities where the drug crop is being
destroyed know that we aren�t just going to destroy the crop and leave them with nothing. What we
want to do is to encourage them to develop a different source of agricultural produce… the fact is
they could be growing other things. Afghanistan potentially is relatively fertile and wealthy, which is
one of the tragedies of what has happened to it over the past few years.

“September 11 showed us what happens when we don�t take action when we leave a failed state
basically living on terrorism and drugs, repressing its people brutally, when we leave that state in
place, then sooner or later we end up dealing with the consequences.”

Asked about the level of support the Prime Minister thought Afghanistan�s neighbours would offer
on ending drug trafficking from Afghanistan, he said: “Certainly at an official level they are co-
operating. What we�ve got to make sure is that we bind that official operation in at all levels in their
administration. These are countries that have a lot to lose from the drugs trade.”

This interview with the Prime Minister will be broadcast on Newshour at 9.00pm (BST) today and on
several of the BBC World Service�s language services in news bulletins throughout the day.

Notes to Editors
Please credit BBC World Service if you use this material from this interview.

END OF QUOTE FROM THE BBC 2002.

and in 2006………….

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/worldasia03afghan.html?th&e mc=th

Opium Harvest at Record Level in Afghanistan

“After the conflict, if there are lessons to be learnt, we should do so in a considered manner.”

I’ve had an e mail back requesting my address, which I’ve given him, but told him to save taxpayers’ money by not writing back.

Uncalled for. Have a bit of respect for the subject.