22 September 2005

(Drug trade threatens Afghanistan's fragile democracy, U.S. officials say)

By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Afghanistan’s successful parliamentary elections are an important step toward consolidating its democratic rule, according to senior U.S. officials.

But there are many problems that still need to be addressed before Afghanistan can enjoy complete social, economic and political stability, they add, not the least of which is the drug trade.

“The success of the elections demonstrates a very important point, which is that our strategy in Afghanistan is political as much as it is military, in fact maybe political more than military,” Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman told the House International Relations Committee September 22.  “What we’re doing is helping the Afghans build their institutions and marginalizing the extremists politically even while we and they are hunting them down militarily.”

The State Department’s coordinator for Afghanistan, Maureen Quinn, agreed that the success of the Afghan people in establishing a stable, constitutional, democratic system is the key to the country’s success.

Quinn said that the September 18 elections were calm, orderly and secure despite enormous logistical and procedural challenges.  She noted that there were 69 different ballots for all of the national and provincial races and nearly 6,000 candidates running for office.  Election officials distributed 142 tons of balloting materials to polling stations around the country using everything from airplanes to donkeys.  She said that despite the difficulties inherent in administering such a complex election, observers called it “one of the best results on record for a post-conflict election.”  (See Democratic Afghanistan.)

Quinn also praised the Afghan security forces for their professionalism and effectiveness in preventing the Taliban and other insurgent groups from disrupting the elections.

Turning to future challenges, the officials said that Afghanistan still faces tremendous obstacles to achieving security, the most important of which is the opium trade.

“In addition to all the other nefarious and debilitating consequences of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, robust drug production contributes to an environment of corruption and of political and economic instability, and thereby threatens the democratically elected Afghan government,” acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Nancy Powell said in prepared remarks.

Powell said Afghanistan accounts for an estimated 87 percent of world opiate production, “a devastating threat to the stability of both Afghanistan and the surrounding region.”

She outlined a five-part program that Afghanistan is undertaking with the help of the international community to confront the problem.  The components include a public information campaign, efforts to provide farmers with alternative livelihoods to poppy cultivation, eradication of poppy fields, search-and-destroy operations aimed at opium processing facilities and enhancement of Afghanistan’s law enforcement capabilities.

“The just-completed parliamentary elections demonstrate that democracy is taking root, but a democratic Afghanistan cannot be fully realized unless we are successful in controlling the narcotics problem,” she said.

Powell’s testimony is available on the House International Relations Web site, as is the testimony of Quinn.