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UK troops will not destroy poppy fields
The commander of the British forces in southern Afghanistan insisted yesterday that his troops would play no part in destroying poppy fields. Ministers had declared that one of the main tasks of the 5,700-strong force was to help end Afghan heroin production, which supplies 90 per cent of the narcotics sold illegally on British streets. But Colonel Gordon Messenger, of the Royal Marines, said troops deploying to Helmand, the biggest centre of heroin production, will not become involved in the process being considered by president Hamid Karzai's government of eradicating poppies. "There will be absolutely no maroon berets (of the marines) with scythes in a poppy field," he said. "British forces will not even directly stop vehicles suspected of smuggling the drug. That will be the task of Afghan police and army." The main role of the British forces will, instead, be to enable the Afghan police and army to establish control over areas which had so far remained outside their reach, allowing a resurgent Taleban and drug lords to gain ascendancy, said Col Messenger. Posted by: Seafarious 2006-02-23 |
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