"Buy Afghan morphine!" is apparently the answer?
http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/media_centre/news_releases/72_news
Canada should create a Special Canadian Emergency Task Force for Kandahar
Immediate action on poverty relief in Afghanistan is necessary to win the battle for the hearts and minds of the population, and fight the growing Taliban insurgency
People are dying of hunger in Kandahar province for which Canada is responsible
Canada should take leadership in developing a new initiative in Afghanistan – Canada should call for an emergency NATO Meeting to reset international community’s course
Canada should oppose forced opium poppy eradication and promote a “Buy Afghan Morphine” fair trade program
OTTAWA – Canada should increase its commitment to Afghanistan and take leadership within the NATO alliance to develop a new initiative there, said The Senlis Council, an international development and security think tank as part of a series of recommendations for Canada’s role in Afghanistan, made in a paper released at an International Symposium held in Ottawa tuesday.
“Canada took on responsibility for Kandahar and should see it through. We all should be deeply concerned about the return of the Taliban and Al Qaeda to Afghanistan, if not for the Afghan people themselves then for what that would mean for our own security.” said Canadian-born Norine MacDonald QC, Founding President of Senlis, who is also the group’s lead field researcher in Kandahar province.
“There has been a dramatic deterioration in the military situation in Kandahar in the last months, Kandahar is a complete war zone, the Taliban are winning both the military battle there and the battle for the hearts and minds of local Afghans. We have made a commitment there and must stay the course, but we must immediately implement a new approach. To pull out is to make Canada complicit in a crime against humanity in Afghanistan. If the international community leaves now we are making a gift to Al Qaeda of a geopolitical home for terrorist extremism.”
“Mr Harper should take some leadership on the crisis in Afghanistan and convene an urgent meeting of the NATO countries to develop a new type of approach for Afghanistan.” said MacDonald. “The longer we leave changing our approach, the more deaths and injuries there will be – including for Canadian troops.”
Extreme Poverty is fuelling the insurgency
The poverty crisis arising in Kandahar and the rest of southern Afghanistan is due to several factors – loss of livelihood through US led forced poppy crop eradication, displacement of the population due to US bombing and military violence, and recurrent drought.
Make-shift, unofficial camps have sprung up, and a starvation crisis akin to those usually witnessed on the African continent, is jeopardizing the survival of many – especially the young. Children are starving to death literally ‘down the road’ from the Canadian military base in Kandahar. The people in these makeshift camps have received no aid from anyone – not the Canadians, nor the UN.
“Extreme poverty is leading to growing anger and resentment against the international community and is directly fuelling the insurgency and support for the Taliban,” said MacDonald. “People feel abandoned by the Canadians and all internationals, who they believed were there to help them. Canadian troops in Kandahar are fighting the Taliban insurgency against a backdrop of an increasingly hostile local population.”
Forced Eradication of poppy crops is generating support for the Taliban
The forced eradication of opium poppy crops, which has been taking place in Kandahar Since 2002, has significantly contributed to the levels of poverty and the large numbers of displaced people in the province. The main source of income in rural Kandahar is opium poppy farming. The US-led forced eradication of poppy fields has fuelled poverty – many farmers have lost their livelihoods and are struggling to feed their families.
As Afghans are not able to differentiate between American and Canadian soldiers, the eradication of farmer’s crops fuelled anger against the Canadian Military. Eradication is endangering the lives of Canadian troops.
“Many of the people we met in the refugee camps had had to leave their villages because they had lost everything when their crops were eradicated,” said MacDonald, who has lived and worked in Afghanistan since early 2005 and who has spent much of the past six months in the South. “The southern provinces have been the hardest hit by this because there is so little else other than poppies which can grow in the harsh climate and desert plains found there.”
This year, about 3,000 hectares of poppy were eradicated in Kandahar. It is often the poorest farmers whose livelihoods are lost because they were unable to pay the necessary bribes to stop their crops being destroyed.
“The Taliban have seen a political opportunity in the anger against the NATO presence that eradication triggered and used that to their advantage in building political support in the south, said MacDonald.
A recent Report release by Senlis showed that the Taliban frontline of control now cuts though half of the country.
Emergency poverty relief would calm the growing Taliban insurgency and protect Canadian troops
Senlis said that Canada should move away from the aggressive US-led military approach and focus on poverty relief and development in order to engage with the local population and quell the rising insurgency. Canadian values and Canada’s experience in dealing with multicultural and bilingual issues is a unique asset that could be used to deal with Afghanistan’s tribal and ethnic challenges.
“We must send immediate food relief to Kandahar province. If we do not do this out of a humanitarian response to a province we took responsibility for we should do this a part of a smart military strategy. This is not a war that can be won through military means alone,” said MacDonald.
Senlis said an emergency food and aid package should be prepared for Afghanistan.
Under US leadership, development and poverty relief have taken a back seat – until now, security has taken priority, with 82 billion USD spent on military operations in Afghanistan since 2002, compared with just 7 billion USD on development.
“This is not the way to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people,” said MacDonald.
Three Recommendations for a new Canadian approach
Three levels of action needed: International, in Afghanistan and in Canada.
In a Report released by Senlis at the Symposium, Senlis recommended that Canada should create a Special Canadian Emergency Task Force for Kandahar. This would include a specific Economic Emergency Plan for Kandahar with a specially appointed non-partisan Special Envoy with the authority to coordinate the military and development responses. A Canadian group of experts and organizations should be formed as part of the Emergency Task Force on Kandahar issues.
Senlis made three key recommendations for Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan:
1. Canada should take the lead at the international and NATO level in Afghanistan - to formulate a new Afghanistan policy approach, tailored to really tackle the “hearts and minds” campaign. This new approach should avoid any actions which antagonize the Afghan population such as bombing villages and injuring or killing civilians, and poppy crop eradication. Canada should convene an emergency meeting of NATO countries to reformulate the approach in Afghanistan.
Canada should support the implementation of a poppy licensing system in Afghanistan for the production of much-needed pain relieving medicines such as morphine and codeine. An Afghan Brand of Fair Trade Morphine and codeine could help developing countries to deal with their pain.
2. In addition to the Economic Emergency Plan to be developed by the Special Canadian Task Force for Kandahar, Canada should deliver an emergency food and aid package – this will help calm the insurgency and engage with the local populations.
A series of Kandahar Jirgas (community meetings) should be organized in order to listen to the needs of the Afghan population – in this way, policy decision will be tailored to the populations’ real needs.
3. The emergency Task Force should organize the necessary infrastructure to enable Canadian citizens and organizations to be involved in helping Kandahar in very practical ways – exchange programmes could be developed, expertise exported and community support programmes installed to facilitate a closer relationship between Canadians and the people of Kandahar and contribute positively to the creation of a positive future for Kandahar and a durable peace.
Ordinary Canadians should be provided with the means to do more to assist average Afghans “Canadians have shown their commitment and concern with the situation in Afghanistan,” said MacDonald. “The Canadian government should give them every opportunity to directly help the people of Afghanistan.”
Senlis suggested stimulating help programmes and professional exchanges between Canadians and Afghans to increase mutual understanding and to empower ordinary Canadians to provide support to Afghan communities in need. “Everything must be done to set up the necessary infrastructure for Canadian citizens to help Afghan citizens in whatever way they can. Canada urgently needs to engage positively with the population of Kandahar.”
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