Pakistan's army troops stand alert as they monitor the Afghan-Pakistan border at Kundighar post. (© AP Images)

Afghan Official Cites Economic, Security Progress with U.S. Help Rebuilding Afghanistan

30 April 2007

(Almond, raisin exports could provide alternatives to poppy as a cash crop)

Washington –- The commander of NATO multinational forces in southern Afghanistan said his 11,500-member team is making “a big difference” in challenging Taliban insurgents while helping pursue development projects that will change Afghan lives.

NATO counterinsurgency operations seriously have diminished the strength of Taliban extremists, especially in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Major General Ton van Loon of the Royal Netherlands Army said April 30 in a Pentagon briefing from his Afghanistan headquarters.

While in the past the Taliban concentrated on attacking NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with large numbers of insurgents using conventional weapons and tactics, van Loon said, now they increasingly are turning to less conventional methods using fewer forces. The Taliban, for example, are posing a considerable threat to NATO and Afghan forces using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are used effectively in Iraq.

However, he said, Afghan authorities -- especially intelligence operatives -- have been helping NATO break up IED cells and taking IED facilitators and bomb makers out of action before their weapons are emplaced.

Van Loon said Taliban insurgents are working in small groups, trying to stay clear of U.S. air assets attempting to hunt them down, and seeking to “fade away into the population” whenever possible.

PAKISTAN HELPS SIDELINE FOREIGN FIGHTERS, ARMS TRAFFIC

The commander also reported effective cooperation among NATO, Afghan and Pakistani officials along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Border control and surveillance issues are on the agenda for the weekly meetings of these officials, he said.

The Pakistanis have increased their number of checkpoints and have been successful in checking hospitals along the border for Taliban suspects.  Together, van Loon said, the combined effort has disrupted illegal arms imports and has kept foreign fighters out of the Helmand province of Afghanistan.

There have been other measures of broader success, he said, including the return of some 10,000 families to their homes and communities. But, van Loon said, there are other signs of positive changes that do not necessarily involve data collection.

“We experience success every time ISAF troops stand back after securing an area,” he said, “and witness local elders extend their authorities in this part of the country by holding Shuras [councils] in keeping with Afghan traditions -– without fear of intimidation by Taliban extremists.” The ability of religious scholars to express disdain for Taliban militants without fear of reprisal also speaks to the change that is occurring, he said.

Another positive indicator is the increasing interoperability that exists between ISAF and Afghan national security forces, he said.

Van Loon, who has 2,000 Dutch soldiers serving with him, said that the now two-month-old “Operation Achilles,” designed to establish the security conditions needed to complete a large dam, has entered a new phase.  The operation is expanding to encompass a broader swath of the northern Helmand province where violence has been inflicted by both Taliban forces and organized crime affiliated with the drug business.

ALMOND AND RAISIN CROPS COULD PROVIDE POPPY ALTERNATIVES

The NATO commander said poppy eradication must be tackled in a comprehensive way.  The Afghan government –- not the ISAF -- must take the lead, he said.

Solving the poppy problem requires the provision of alternative income for farmers, he said, and it means dealing effectively with narco-traffickers who are profiting from poppy cultivation.

The Kajaki Dam project will provide alternative employment for those in Helmand, van Loon said.  Not only will it provide residential and industrial power in southern Afghanistan, he said, “but it will also improve the water supply for local communities and rehabilitate the irrigation systems for farm lands in the entire Sangin Valley.”

The dam project will lead to small scale industrial growth and increasing commerce, the Dutch army official predicted, and provide alternative livelihood for Afghans.  (See related article.)

But it will be important to convince farmers that they can grow a crop other than poppies and generate a similar or better income.  Van Loon suggested that almonds and grapes for the raisin market, would work well.

Before the former Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, Kabul was the largest raisin exporter in the world, he said, and that market could be recaptured if Afghan farmers were free of poppy production.

For more information, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.