2006年VOA标准英语-Taleban Insurgency Fueled by Poppy Cultivation

By Jeff Swicord
Washington, DC
02 August 2006
 
watch Afghanistan Drug report

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has taken over command of international troops in southern Afghanistan from the U.S.-led coalition 1. It will now lead the fight against a re-emerging Taleban insurgency 2, which NATO commanders say is increasingly fueled by opium 3 poppy cultivation 4.

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Taleban rebels   
  
The rugged 5 terrain 6 is Taleban country.  Taleban rebels were never rooted out of these hills, despite the U.S.-led military action in 2001.  Five years later, the insurgents 7 have regrouped, better armed and organized than ever. 

And according to military and narcotics 8 experts, what is fueling the Taleban insurgency is opium.  

  
Patrick Ward 9 
  
Senior U.S. National Drug Control Policy official Patrick Ward says Taleban rebels often force farmers to grow poppy. "They are coercing 10 farmers and sharecroppers to grow.  They are holding them accountable to grow.  They are providing credit to farmers and putting farmers and sharecroppers into debt over time.  So they can hold that over their heads as well as threatening their lives."

Afghanistan poppies  
  
Ward says cultivation of opium poppies brings tens of millions of dollars to the Taleban coffers.   Afghan poppies produce an estimated 90 percent of the world's heroin 11.

The Afghan government is fighting back.  It has hired private American security contractors 12 to destroy any known poppy fields.  For some farmers, it is a painful step. 

"Why don't you just kill me," one farmer cries.

Kabul is developing new programs to train farmers to do other jobs, such as road building and carpentry.  Ward says the real solution is to rebuild an economy that has been destroyed by decades of war.

"Those types of cash for work programs are meant for short-term effort,” says Mr. Ward, “while a more comprehensive type of development comes in and plants, for example, fruit-bearing orchards 13, which are going to take three to four years to start bearing fruit."

But not all farmers want to stop growing poppy.  Poppy cultivation is too profitable. 

More poppies mean more violence, according to NATO commanders who have taken control of southern Afghanistan from a U.S.-led coalition.  The mission now facing NATO is one of the most difficult in the organization's 57-year history: it will try to stabilize 14 a region wracked with Taleban-led violence and a growing drug trade.

  
Major General Benjamin Freakley
  
U.S. Major General Benjamin Freakley says, "We are going into the valleys, into areas where the enemy has operated with impunity 15 before.  And we are putting pressure on them.  The local elders say, ‘Where have you been?’ "

Military officials say Taleban rebels have adopted some of the tactics used by Iraqi insurgents, such as roadside bombs and suicide bombers 16. Forty roadside bombs exploded in the last month. The Taleban are getting help from Al-Qaida bomb makers 17 and Arab fighters abroad.  But they are supported by Afghans at home as well.  

NATO forces prepare for a mission  
  
A routine visit to this village by a British unit recently turned into a six-hour firefight with its residents.  As soon as the soldiers left, the Taleban returned.

"Holy war is right here in front of our homes, even if we are too poor to fight in Americas" said the Taleban commander.

More and more NATO patrols are venturing into poppy-growing regions in search of the enemy, and they are confident that -- with persistence 18 -- they will succeed.