Afghan President Optimistic on Drug War

05/24/2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - Debunking State Department predictions that Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming a “narco-state,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his country could be free of opium poppies in five or six years.

With President Bush at his side Monday after a meeting, Karzai said he is hopeful that poppy production will be down 20 percent to 30 percent this year.

He added that the elimination of the poppy can be achieved only if Afghan farmers can cultivate other crops as alternatives.

Just two months ago, a State Department report said the area in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation last year set a record of more than 510,000 acres, more than triple the figure for 2003. Opium poppy is the raw material for heroin.

The Afghan narcotics situation “represents an enormous threat to world stability,” the report said.

Karzai was continuing his official visit here on Tuesday with meetings on Capitol Hill and an appearance at a local think tank.

After talks on security issues with Bush, Karzai toured the Freer Art Gallery and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery here. He viewed Afghan paintings dating from the 15th Century as well as Silk Road art and artifacts.

At a ceremony, he was presented with two coins more than 2,000 years old that were stolen from the Afghan National Museum in 1990 and were recovered by U.S. customs agents.

At the news conference earlier in the day, Bush said the thousands of U.S. forces in Afghanistan will remain under American control. Afghanistan won’t be able to take over self-defense responsibilities, he said, until its forces are better trained.

“Of course our troops will respond to U.S. commanders,” Bush said, even as he praised the progress Afghanistan has been making in developing its own fighting force.

“Our mission in Afghanistan and Iraq is the same,” Bush said.

“We want these new democracies to be able to defend themselves. And so we will continue to work with the Afghans to train them and to cooperate and consult with the government.”

Karzai said he was saddened by the abuse Afghan prisoners have suffered at the hands of U.S. troops.

But, he said, “Let me make sure that you all know that that does not reflect on the American people.”

“These things happen everywhere,” he said.

Karzai got no promise of a quick repatriation of Afghan prisoners now in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere.

The issue has caused Karzai headaches at home, where anti-American sentiment recently exploded over a news report, since retracted, that U.S. interrogators flushed a Quran down a toilet. Sixteen Afghans died in anti-American demonstrations this month.