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June 29, 2009

US to End Poppy Eradication in Afghanistan
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Meanwhile in Afghanistan, the US has declared an end to its poppy
eradication program. Speaking at the G8 summit in Italy, US Special
Envoy Richard Holbrooke declared the program a failure.

Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke: “The Western policies against the opium
crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure. They did not result in any
damage to the Taliban, but they put farmers out of work, and they
alienated people and drove people into the arms of the Taliban. So I
need to stress this: the poppy farmer is not our enemy; Taliban are. And
to destroy the crops is not an effective policy, and the US has wasted
hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars on this program. And that
is going to end. We are not going to support crop eradication.”



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