US Says Drug Lords May Have Sprayed Afghan Opium
Date: 03-Dec-04
Country: AFGHANISTAN
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.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States was looking into the spraying reports but had not done an independent investigation and did not know if any had occurred.
"But I can say categorically at this point that the United States has not done it and the United States has not contracted or sub-contracted anyone to do it," he said.
While it was speculation, he said, "maybe ... some drug-associated people may have done this in order to create the sort of distrust and problem between Afghanistan and some of its allies".
Khalilzad said Washington supported a strong anti-drugs strategy in Afghanistan, but stressed: "We have not done up to now any aerial spraying."
A United Nations report last month said Afghanistan risked becoming a "narco-state" after opium cultivation jumped to record levels. The Kabul government responded by saying that the war on drugs was its top priority but it opposed aerial spraying.
A spokesman for Nangarhar province said last month that on Nov. 7, unidentified helicopters had sprayed opium fields in two of its districts.
The Afghan government has said detailed studies needed to be carried out to determine whether increased incidences of skin rashes, diarrhoea and respiratory problems in children could have been caused by such spraying.
Colombian anti-narcotics forces, with heavy US funding, spray coca crops with a mixture of imported and domestic herbicides. Critics say the chemicals harm the environment and local people.