US Marine commanding general says his forces hurting Afghanistan’s opium trade

US Marine general says forces hurting opium trade

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The commanding general in charge of all U.S. Marines in Afghanistan said Friday that U.S. forces have dealt a blow to the Taliban’s multimillion-dollar opium business by securing deals that will take half of all poppy-producing land in the country’s central area.

Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world’s opium, the main ingredient in heroin.

Maj. Gen. Richard Mills said during a video conference call at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County that farmers who own half of such land in Helmand Province, the center of Afghanistan’s poppy production, have pledged to not reseed next year.

Curbing the Taliban’s drug trade was a major goal when Marines seized the former insurgent stronghold of Marjah earlier this year. But troops have had to walk a fine line in their battle against the country’s opium trade: If they destroy the crops, they lose the support of the population. So instead they are encouraging local farmers to swap their crops for other moneymaking harvests, such as wheat.

Mills said that program is having success that could dramatically reduce the Taliban’s poppy trade, which has been funding the insurgency.

Troops recently seized almost five tons of raw opium headed out of the country to be sold so the money could buy weapons and explosives for the Taliban.

“We offer them employment for money but we do not buy the drugs nor do we eradicate the drugs,” Mills said. “We simply educate them and encourage them to find alternative means to gain a livelihood off the soil. We’re getting good reception of that both at the local level and governmental levels.”

Mills added that Marines are not in the “drug interdiction business” but “it’s difficult to separate the two here. We target the Taliban and the drugs are an addendum if you will.”

But it is hard to say whether farmers will keep their word given that opium prices are going up as a result of blight hurting Afghanistan’s opium yield. That is likely to drop as much as 30 percent this year.

The blight, which turns the poppy plants black as they apparently rot from the inside, has hit about half of the poppy crop growing in the northern part of Helmand province.

The higher prices could mean more money for the Taliban as well.

But Mills said NATO troops are making inroads in Helmand Province and slowly gaining support among the population. He said a hot line set up by coalition forces for people to call in information anonymously about bombs or bomb builders has been getting about 20 calls a day.

U.S. Marines are training Afghan troops and police in preparation for President Obama’s plan for them to take the lead in 14 months.

Mills declined to say whether Obama’s deadline will be met.

“We are starting to see an Afghan army rise in strength and capability,” he said, adding that police still have a long way to go.

Just under 20,000 U.S. Marines are in Afghanistan.

President Hamid Karzai, with money and assistance from foreign forces and donors, is in a race against the Taliban to convince people to turn away from the insurgency.

Success in Helmand province is considered key to strengthening Karzai’s authority and promoting governance.

“I think this is going to be a critical year,” Mills said, adding: “I think we’ve got some tough fighting in front of us.”