US-backed efforts to eradicate Afghan opium poppy fields could backfire, by stirring up instability and enriching powerful drug lords, some 30 non-governmental organisations said in an open letter on Tuesday. Afghan opium output has surged to near-record levels since 2001, when US-led forces toppled the Taleban government. The United Nations says drug exports account for more than 60 percent of Afghanistan's economy and it risks becoming a "narco-state".
President Hamid Karzai has made the fight against the "dishonour" of drug production a priority of his new government sworn in December, urging provincial governors and regional commanders to destroy poppies by all means necessary.
The US government, which has 18,000 troops in Afghanistan, has strongly backed Karzai's drive.
"Massive eradication efforts in 2005 could risk destabilising large areas of the country," the 31 NGOs active in Afghanistan, including CARE, Oxfam and the International Crisis Group, wrote in an open letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Diplomats and aid workers in Afghanistan report a marked drop this year in the planting of poppies used to make opium and heroin. But that may be due to producers hording their stocks until the market glut is over and the price recovers.
"Threats of eradication have already resulted in higher opium prices, enriching traffickers who have large inventories from three previous bumper crops," the NGOs' letter said.
While crop eradication might lead to quick results on the ground, producers could easily revert to growing poppies in the next few years if no alternative livelihoods are found and high-level traffickers are not caught and jailed.
"The United States government should prioritise alternative livelihood and interdiction efforts rather than crop eradication," the NGOs said.
Afghanistan's new anti-narcotics minister said last month the government, fearful of instability, would be careful about drug eradication, but had yet to decide on a plan of action.