Netherlands ignores plan to destroy Afghan poppy crops

Dutch soldiers stationed in the southern Afghanistan province of Uruzgan will not endorse or participate in the destruction of poppy fields in the region, said the Dutch minister of development.

Minister Agnes van Ardenne said the ultimate purpose of the Dutch participation in the Nato stabilisation force in Afghanistan was to promote reconstruction.

“That’s only possible if the population is working with us, but the population won’t do that if people see that we, as it were, are playing along with the game of destroying the income stream, the only income stream of very many farmers,” Van Ardenne said.

The US government wants the poppies destroyed, arguing that some of the proceeds are funnelled through local Mafia or directly to Taliban insurgents and al-Qaida.

Opium production from poppies in Afghanistan last year rose 49% to 6,700 tonnes, enough to supply 90% of the world’s heroin.

But Afghan president Hamid Karzai said earlier this month he would not allow a Colombian-style spraying program to eradicate the poppies, ordering them to be ploughed under instead.

Ardenne said she would advise the governor of Uruzgan province to ignore Karzai’s directive.