Why does President Hamid Karzai oppose eradicating opium poppy?
We think that the best policy to fight narcotics is to prevent cultivation. Once the poppy is cultivated, it’s too late. If you eradicate, you push the farmer into the hands of the bad guy to come in and provide protection and say, “Look, the government is destroying your land, they’re destroying your crop, and we are here to help you.” If you don’t eradicate, then the proceeds of the narcotics go into the hands of the terrorists, the bad guy. The most effective way of preventing cultivation is to provide an alternative. But it’s human nature to choose the easiest, most profitable route, isn’t it? Nobody by his nature in Afghanistan, the U.S. or Colombia is a criminal. … If people are given a dignified option, the farmers, they will take it. But if pressed against the wall, they will exercise whatever option they have. That dignified option is an alternative livelihood. That includes alternative crops, but most importantly, it is to add value to the existing crop. … There’s no need to
