America's love affair with Tony Blair was thrown into crisis yesterday when a US official publicly accused Britain of failing to take action to eradicate a bumper crop of Afghan opium poppies.
The Bush administration took the highly unusual step of sending a senior official to Congress to chastise Britain, its closest ally in the war on terrorism, for dragging its feet in the fight against drugs.
Robert Charles, the assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement, said Britain was being too squeamish about eradicating poppy fields before Afghan farmers had found an alternative source of crops and income.
"Our point of disagreement, and I put it very directly," said Mr Charles, "is that we believe that if there is a heroin poppy that needs to be eradicated, we shouldn't be picking and choosing, we shouldn't be delaying, waiting for an alternative revenue stream to become available."
He said: "Our priority should not be some kind of misplaced sympathy for someone who will have to do a little bit more work [to grow other, less-lucrative crops, such as wheat or barley]."
His onslaught came during an appearance before a Republican-chaired hearing of the House narcotics sub-committee entitled: "Afghanistan: are British counter-narcotics efforts going wobbly?"
This was a pointed reference to Margaret Thatcher's warning to George Bush Sr not to "go wobbly" in the run-up to the 1991 Kuwait war.
Britain has been designated by the G8 group of leading industrialised states to lead the international effort to staunch the flow of drugs from Afghanistan, the world's biggest heroin producer.
One reason for America's alarm is the evidence of a surge in the 2004 poppy crop, which Mr Charles said may double last year's production.
"We may well be looking at well over 120,000 hectares of poppy cultivation this year," he said. "That would constitute a world record crop, empowering traffickers and the terrorists they feed, raising the stakes for, and the vulnerability of, Afghan democracy, and raising the supply of heroin on the world market."
But he said there was "still a window open for Britain to become more aggressive" before the harvest begins later this month in the south and moves north.
The British embassy declined an invitation to address the hearing. The Government responded quickly but cautiously last night, saying it was determined to stamp out drugs production.
Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office minister, said: "We are making real progress on tackling Afghan drugs. Much has been achieved, but there are no short cuts to success."
British officials say they have agreed a 10-year plan with the Afghan government to rid the country of poppy cultivation, but expected a "short-term increase" after the overthrow of the Taliban regime, which had restricted production. The Government has earmarked £70 million for the counter-narcotics effort in the coming three years.
Mr Charles praised British efforts to destroy heroin laboratories and shipments. But insisted that Britain had to do a lot more to uproot poppy crops, particularly in the southern Pathan belt, where British officials are working with provincial governors.
The dispute is tangled in Afghanistan's complex tribal politics. In the American view, Britain is reluctant to stir up more trouble in the restive Pathan south, from where the Taliban draws its support.
But unless poppies in the south are eradicated, America fears that any attempt to destroy them farther north could provoke a backlash from Tajiks, who would complain that the Pathans were being treated more leniently.
Mr Charles said that unless the drugs trade was brought under control quickly it might become unstoppable, with "the institutionalisation of Colombia-like cartels".
It is almost unheard of for the Bush administration to rebuke Britain in public. US officials will generally tie themselves in knots rather than criticise Washington's close ally and a Labour leader revered in America.
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America accuses Britain of failing in war on drugs
By David Rennie in Washington and Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor for the Telegraph (UK)
April 2, 2004
Link
The Bush administration took the highly unusual step of sending a senior official to Congress to chastise Britain, its closest ally in the war on terrorism, for dragging its feet in the fight against drugs.
Robert Charles, the assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement, said Britain was being too squeamish about eradicating poppy fields before Afghan farmers had found an alternative source of crops and income.
"Our point of disagreement, and I put it very directly," said Mr Charles, "is that we believe that if there is a heroin poppy that needs to be eradicated, we shouldn't be picking and choosing, we shouldn't be delaying, waiting for an alternative revenue stream to become available."
He said: "Our priority should not be some kind of misplaced sympathy for someone who will have to do a little bit more work [to grow other, less-lucrative crops, such as wheat or barley]."
His onslaught came during an appearance before a Republican-chaired hearing of the House narcotics sub-committee entitled: "Afghanistan: are British counter-narcotics efforts going wobbly?"
This was a pointed reference to Margaret Thatcher's warning to George Bush Sr not to "go wobbly" in the run-up to the 1991 Kuwait war.
Britain has been designated by the G8 group of leading industrialised states to lead the international effort to staunch the flow of drugs from Afghanistan, the world's biggest heroin producer.
One reason for America's alarm is the evidence of a surge in the 2004 poppy crop, which Mr Charles said may double last year's production.
"We may well be looking at well over 120,000 hectares of poppy cultivation this year," he said. "That would constitute a world record crop, empowering traffickers and the terrorists they feed, raising the stakes for, and the vulnerability of, Afghan democracy, and raising the supply of heroin on the world market."
But he said there was "still a window open for Britain to become more aggressive" before the harvest begins later this month in the south and moves north.
The British embassy declined an invitation to address the hearing. The Government responded quickly but cautiously last night, saying it was determined to stamp out drugs production.
Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office minister, said: "We are making real progress on tackling Afghan drugs. Much has been achieved, but there are no short cuts to success."
British officials say they have agreed a 10-year plan with the Afghan government to rid the country of poppy cultivation, but expected a "short-term increase" after the overthrow of the Taliban regime, which had restricted production. The Government has earmarked £70 million for the counter-narcotics effort in the coming three years.
Mr Charles praised British efforts to destroy heroin laboratories and shipments. But insisted that Britain had to do a lot more to uproot poppy crops, particularly in the southern Pathan belt, where British officials are working with provincial governors.
The dispute is tangled in Afghanistan's complex tribal politics. In the American view, Britain is reluctant to stir up more trouble in the restive Pathan south, from where the Taliban draws its support.
But unless poppies in the south are eradicated, America fears that any attempt to destroy them farther north could provoke a backlash from Tajiks, who would complain that the Pathans were being treated more leniently.
Mr Charles said that unless the drugs trade was brought under control quickly it might become unstoppable, with "the institutionalisation of Colombia-like cartels".
It is almost unheard of for the Bush administration to rebuke Britain in public. US officials will generally tie themselves in knots rather than criticise Washington's close ally and a Labour leader revered in America.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
America accuses Britain of failing in war on drugs
By David Rennie in Washington and Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor for the Telegraph (UK)
April 2, 2004
Link
