Karzai Vows to Fight Afghan Drug Trade Story aired: Friday, December 10, 2004
Afghan president Hamid Karzai yesterday launched a two-day conference on the nation's booming drug business. In a passionate opening speech, he vowed to wage a jihad, or holy war, against the opium poppy.
The United Nations' 2004 Afghanistan opium survey reported last month that Afghan opium is up sharply this year and now supplies 90 percent of the world's demand for heroin.
But meanwhile, there's an unsolved mystery in Afghanistan these days: who has been flying darkened airplanes by night over farming villages and spraying opium poppy fields with a chemical that is killing the crop?
President Hamid Karzai this week asked the U.S. and Britain if they ordered the crop sprayings. But both countries deny any knowledge.
Carlotta Gall reported the story, and she joins us from Kabul.
We also speak with Ole Martin Holte, head of a program run by the Franciscan Help organization in Oslo, Norway. He and his volunteers provide clean needles and medical attention to addicts on the streets and in their homes, if they are recluses.
Guests:
Carlotta Gall, reporter for the New York Times
Ed Blanche, reporter with Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst
Ole Martin Holte, head of a program run by the Franciscan Help organization in Oslo, Norway.
