Afghan poppy crop gets toxic spray; U.S., Britain deny being involved

By Carlotta Gall
The New York Times

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NIMLA, Afghanistan — The dark plane came during the night, rattling windows in this picturesque farming village in eastern Afghanistan as it flew back and forth, spraying a chemical on houses, orchards and fields.

Farmers and tribal leaders, as well as the Afghan government, say unidentified planes have been spraying opium poppy fields with a toxic chemical. Last week, President Hamid Karzai called in the ambassadors of Britain and the United States, the two main donors involved in efforts to combat narcotics in Afghanistan, to explain the aerial spraying in Nangarhar Province.

Both countries denied any involvement, according to Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin.

But in Nimla, a month after the spraying, the poppy seedlings are dying.

Hajji Kamaluddin Popalzai, the village chief, said the government had told them to stop growing poppies, but they were expecting some assistance to grow alternative crops first.

"Just coming and spraying, that's unfair," he said.

An Afghan government delegation sent to investigate returned with samples of soil and of tiny gray pellets, the size of grains of sugar, that were sprayed on the crops.

"We do not support aerial spraying as an instrument of eradication," Ludin said. "We have never in the past, at present, and never will in the future authorize the use of poppy-spraying chemicals. The government of Afghanistan has not authorized any foreign entity, any foreign government, any foreign company, or anyone else to carry out aerial spraying."

Ludin said the Afghan government was not convinced that all other measures to combat narcotics had been exhausted, and it was also worried about the impact the chemicals might have on people and legitimate crops. But most important, he said, spraying without the government's authorization was an infringement of Afghanistan's sovereignty.
 
"This is a question of sovereignty, a question of being aware of what is going on in the country, and of course that is something that we need to take seriously," Ludin said.

The American military has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the spraying, and on Wednesday the U.S. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, denied contracting the job to any company or agency.

"I can say categorically that the U.S. has not done it and the U.S. has not contracted or subcontracted anyone to do it," he said. He said he did not know who had done the spraying.

Yet the topic has been under discussion for some months, and the Americans have argued for chemical eradication, said officials involved in the counternarcotics program.

The United States recently announced it was providing $780 million to combat illicit drugs in Afghanistan, the world's leading source of opium, over the next year. Some of the money will go to the American security firm DynCorp to train Afghanistan's new Central Planning and Eradication Force, a police force dedicated to eliminating poppy fields.

Afghan officials said they did not know who was responsible but were quick to blame the United States.

"The Americans control the airspace of Afghanistan, and not even a bird can fly without them knowing," said Hajji Din Muhammad, the governor of Nangarhar. "There was no need to spray chemicals, and we are not happy about that."

In Nimla, villagers said they thought Karzai probably knew about the plan.

"He is like a shepherd to his people, and a shepherd always knows about his sheep," Hasham said. "If he does not know, he should not be a shepherd."

Like the other farmers here, Hasham said he was growing poppies because he could not survive if he used his small fields to grow wheat.

"I have two fields," he said. "If I grow wheat, I get 30 kilos of grain" — about 66 pounds — "which is not enough to feed my family. If I grow opium, I can buy enough grain, plus cooking oil and all the others things we need."

Another farmer, Lala Gul, was busy plowing up his dying poppy seedlings and sowing wheat instead, but said he would take a loss.

"Since the Americans came to this country, I have not made any money from my land," he said.