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Afghan concern at opium spraying

The Afghan government has expressed concern to US and British officials after a mystery spraying of herbicide on opium crops in the country's east.

The government said a probe had shown poppies in two districts of Nangarhar province had been sprayed by air without authorisation.

The US and British denied any involvement in such activities.

The UN recently warned that Afghanistan could become a drug state after opium cultivation rose two-thirds this year.

The warning coincided with a US announcement of a major new offensive against drug production in Afghanistan.

'National integrity'

The Afghan government said villagers in Nangarhar had complained of feeling unwell after the mystery spraying two weeks ago.

“US troops are not involved in eradication,
which would include the spraying of
poppy fields which we do not do”
—Major Mark McCann,
US military spokesman

A local doctor, Mohammed Rafi Safi, told the AFP news agency he had treated 30 farmers who claimed their fields had been sprayed with herbicide.

Presidential spokesman, Jawed Ludin, told a news conference: "It is not just serious for us because of some health problems, it is not just serious for us because it harms the other crops, it is being taken very seriously because it affects the national integrity of our country."

Mr Ludin said he had held talks with foreign officials to express the Afghan government's opposition to spraying.

He said US and British officials had given the president assurances that they had "never in the past and will never in the future support any aerial spraying either directly or indirectly".

An investigation is continuing in Nangarhar with soil samples taken from the Shinwar and Khogyani districts.

Last week, US military spokesman Major Mark McCann said: "US troops are not involved in eradication, which would include the spraying of poppy fields which we do not do."

UN report

Nangarhar provincial governor Din Mohammed said he was in no doubt there had been an aerial spraying.

"I don't know who might be behind this but... the airspace of Afghanistan is under the control of the United States," he said.

Villager Zarawar Khan said he saw "a huge plane flying very low" and spraying a snow-like substance on crops.

This month, the UN said Afghanistan could become a "narco-state".

It said the country now supplied 87% of world opium. In 2003, the trade was worth $2.8bn, representing more than 60% of gross domestic product.

It urged the US and Nato forces to fight drugs as well as Taleban insurgents.

The UN report came as Washington said it expected to spend an extra $780m in the next financial year on measures including the eradication of poppies and alternatives for farmers.


Published: 2004/11/30 11:40:00 GMT © BBC MMIV

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