BLAIR DRUG VOW FIASCO

We Promised To Wipe Out The Afghan Poppy Fields. Instead More Heroin Than
Ever Is About To Hit Britain

BRITAIN has abandoned plans to wipe out Afghanistan's poppy fields despite
fears this year's opium harvest will be the biggest ever.

Now customs and police are bracing themselves for the arrival in the next
few months of a glut of cheap heroin from the war-ravaged country, source of
90 per cent of the Class A drug on our streets.

Two months after the September 11 atrocities which led to the attack on
Afghanistan and the fall of its cruel Taliban regime, Tony Blair pledged
Britain would take the lead role in wiping out the lethal Afghan opium
trade.

He said: "In helping with the reconstruction of Afghanistan we shall make
clear we want it to develop farming of proper agricultural produce, not
produce for the drugs trade.''

The reality is a scandal. While the US spends an estimated UKP 600 million a
month on military operations in Afghanistan, Britain has pledged just
UKP 70 million over three years to build up an anti-drugs force.

None of the money has yet arrived. Meanwhile opium production since the fall
of the Taliban, which banned the drug, has risen by some 1,400 per cent.

Last year production rose to 3,400 tonnes - three quarters of the world
total. Output is expected to increase. No major drugs arrest has been made.

Mirwais Yasimi, head of Kabul's Counter Narcotics Directorate, said: "I was
expecting Mr Blair to do more.

"We need funds and assistance. This is not a job that can be done by the
Kabul government alone.

"My men are dedicated. But they have received only tens of thousands of
dollars from the UK, not even hundreds of thousands. Compare that to the
spending on the war on terror.''

Production is booming because poverty stricken Afghans can earn 15 times
more from growing poppies - which are chemically converted to heroin - than
farming wheat.

Tragically, the weak government in Kabul is powerless to stop the warlords
behind the hugely profitable trade.

At first, it was thought wiping out the poppy fields would solve the
problem. Each hectare of poppies produces about 35kgs of raw opium worth up
to UKP 900.

Last year Britain paid up to ?800 per hectare compensation to farmers if
they eradicated the poppy. But the scheme barely affected output. Now it has
been dropped. British officials claim the policy was shelved in favour of
building a force to tackle drug crime.

But though Mr Yasimi praised 50 customs experts who have helped train
Afghans in drug detection, the squad has failed to yield major results.

He said: "Arrests are rare. They have just been small fry. Without resources
my men can't do much. But the dealers get more sophisticated."

In the poppy centre of Jalalabad engineer Abdul Ghoss, one of Mr Yasimi's 20
men in the area, said: "We have no cars, no petrol, no radio, no phones and
no computers.

"We heard the British government is involved in stopping the drug trade.
Some British police came here and last week a British foreign minister, Bill
Ramell, visited. They've promised us help but we haven't had any so far.

"My men want to stop opium. But what can we do against warlords with their
private armies?"

Abdul Wahab, a pro-government commander, added: "We've destroyed some opium
factories. But the people here are poor and need the money. We haven't had
any help from the British."

A Western diplomat in Kabul close to the anti-drugs war, said: "It will take
years to end this problem. We just have to keep nibbling away."

So as the politicians spout rhetoric and officials struggle with woeful
resources, the fields of white and purple opium poppies continue to spread.

And on the streets of Britain yet more lives are wrecked and ended by the
unstoppable scourge of heroin.