E
easyrasta
yap yap yap
thanks hybernia for the pics
thanks hybernia for the pics
-
As of today ICMag has his own Discord server. In this Discord server you can chat, talk with eachother, listen to music, share stories and pictures...and much more. Join now and let's grow together! Join ICMag Discord here! More details in this thread here: here.
the KUSH thread
- Thread starter OG bub
- Start date
- Status
Hi Easyrasta - kicha asus? If you want an idea of the kind of plants being 'yapped' about in my posts you can have a look at some of the indicas in Mriko's picture gallery - he and I know each other personally and both collect in these regions... Mriko has both cultivars and wild strains... Mriko has a wider interest in wild as well as drug varieties, for very good reasons in fact given the environmental issues the region is facing... if memory serves from conversations Mriko and I had in Peshawar and with mutual friends in the Hindu Kush his Laspur and Yarkhun lines were collected in the wild, so they will likely look a little different from the the more narrow-leaved strains I have collected... on a personal note, if you look and sound American and get a kick out of being rude to people who are helping you out then I would put off any visits to the regions under discussion, you really won't get far
Salaam,
Ngakpa
Salaam,
Ngakpa
Last edited:
ngakpa, once again, much thanks for sharing your knowledge w/ us! I look forward to your 'formal' articles on your travels.
It takes a special breed of person to undertake such adventures, and I've learned I am not cut out of this cloth. I truly commend you and the like-minded others who undertake such excursions.
Just wondering how long ago were you in this region? I just can't imagine any westerner undertaking such travels in the last 6 yrs or so.
easyrasta, you'd be better served over in the 'Flowers' forum, me thinks.
It takes a special breed of person to undertake such adventures, and I've learned I am not cut out of this cloth. I truly commend you and the like-minded others who undertake such excursions.
Just wondering how long ago were you in this region? I just can't imagine any westerner undertaking such travels in the last 6 yrs or so.
easyrasta, you'd be better served over in the 'Flowers' forum, me thinks.
maxe
Member
Interesting and much needed thread - thanks!
Why hasn't a mod removed like 20 out-of-place argueing posts in this thread, but they could give me a warning for trying to be objective in a wannabe kush thread...hmm... ( this post can be removed too if thread is cleaned up
)
I hope there are some growers stationed over there as military that will bring home some interesting Kush seeds! - that could be nice..
Keep posting those delicious kush pics!
Why hasn't a mod removed like 20 out-of-place argueing posts in this thread, but they could give me a warning for trying to be objective in a wannabe kush thread...hmm... ( this post can be removed too if thread is cleaned up
)I hope there are some growers stationed over there as military that will bring home some interesting Kush seeds! - that could be nice..
Keep posting those delicious kush pics!
E
easyrasta
ngakpa said:
I am fine, thank you for asking. As for my other post, I was kidding and didn't mean to offend anyone. The information is awesome. but i really do love the pics
peace my friend, pos. rep to you on the way
Last edited:
G
Guest
thank you ngakpa, as Zam I am letting my mind travel with you and it is a awsome trip. I have always dreamed of collecting my own seeds from around the world but being married with family leaves little time for any thing besides work and growing. thanks for taking us with you. I think you mentioned the narrow leafed hash plants being your plant of choice, but how about the broad leafed plants such as deep chunk, are they as commen and as strong?
Alfred-cannaria
Member
anyone know kushes from banks that they would be landraces?... for example some strains of Bluehemp or hidu kush of sensi, are they really kush landraces??
Thanks for all.
Thanks for all.
redwood-roots
Active member
Ngakpa: Thank you for taking the time to post info on your experience in the region. It has given me some inset into am area surrounded in mystery as far as my knowledge is concerned.
A
Afghanicus
i have to say i'm quite impressed with sensi seeds up to this point. They all look like classic kush plants and have that landrace kush look to them. There is little variation but a few plants definitely stand out with very wide dark green leaves that overlap. Only one has leaves that look more narrow, will be interesting to see how this one compares to the others, she is a female to. but the rest are quite short quat plants with those lovely wide leaves. Very aromatic plants also, i love the smell. I've got a nice looking male so i'll be producing some seeds for sure.
peace
hi - many thanks for the kind words - on all levels these are just ramblings but I hope they inspire people to an even deeper realisation of the value of these plants... the whole indica heartland is right now experiencing immense social, economic, environmental and political pressure... the current fad of Kush can become meaningful part of a solution to poverty, infrastructural collapse and extremism in the Hindu Kush regions, if we can just wake up and see it all as part of one connected whole
mainstreamed cannabusiness has to be the solution
it really is time to put an end to cannabis prohibtion - the coming review of the Afghanistan Counter Narcotics strategy is as good a time to start as any... a regulated charas economy will provide the means to creating security and prosperity in regions from which opium poppies have been eradicated... this is the solution to the central strategic problem in the Central Asian region - and a means by which the otherwise endless cycle of planting and eradication of opium poppy can be stopped...
production of cannabis under governmental license will also put an end to so-called "second-tier Talebanisation" - i.e. angry Afghan farmers and workers joining Taleban fighters once ISAF troops have walked across their lands and destroyed thier crops... this process can end, and the Taleban can - area by area - be deprived of the central strategic support poppy and the misguided CN strategy together provide.... areas secured by the ISAF can stay that way only with an end to cannabis prohibtion...
right now the Opium economy is at the heart of the Central Asian problem - it is about 35% of Afghanistan's economy... this year it has grown again... and it cannot simply be eradicated - something must be put in its place - mint and saffron simply will not do... only cannabis can make the grade
and right now in Europe first grade "Kabuli" charas can fetch about 10GBP per gram... as they say in the USA - "you do the Math"
not much imagination is needed for the rest -
with the birth of a legitimate charas economy Peshawar and Kabul rather than being potential/actual hotbeds of radicalism can become the focal points of economic and infrastructural growth they need to be -
this applies to the Tribal Agencies also and is a means by which the interests of even the most radical Pashtun tribes can become harmonised with central government in Paksitan and Afghanistan...
in the long run even Kandahar, Quetta and Helmand can become stabilised - can transform from their present fragmented state as can only be done through the generation of a genuine common interest between local Pashtun tribes and the fledgling Afghan central government -
how else but by utilising the stablising potential of the charas economy, a potential which resides in the very land and culture of Afganistan and Pakistan?
the aims of farmers, ISAF and central government can thereby be unified, and rather than being a vortex into which hundreds of millions of dollars are thrown, the Afghan CN strategy becomes a means by which literally hundreds of millions are dollars produced through realising the potential already resident in the culture of these regions....
fields of cannabis along the rivers and irrigations of Helmand rather than being a place for Taleban fighters to hide from the night-vision cameras of ISAF troops can within a few years be the heart of an open, stable relationship between rural Norhtern Pashtun tries and central government in Kabul
roads, schools, security, wealth etc. etc.
the key to securing and enriching areas of key importance for the future ahead of us is a regulated economy in ganja and charas... in fact I believe it lies at the very heart of peacefully bringing together the cultures of the Islamic world with the cultures of the West
mainstreamed cannabusiness has to be the solution
it really is time to put an end to cannabis prohibtion - the coming review of the Afghanistan Counter Narcotics strategy is as good a time to start as any... a regulated charas economy will provide the means to creating security and prosperity in regions from which opium poppies have been eradicated... this is the solution to the central strategic problem in the Central Asian region - and a means by which the otherwise endless cycle of planting and eradication of opium poppy can be stopped...
production of cannabis under governmental license will also put an end to so-called "second-tier Talebanisation" - i.e. angry Afghan farmers and workers joining Taleban fighters once ISAF troops have walked across their lands and destroyed thier crops... this process can end, and the Taleban can - area by area - be deprived of the central strategic support poppy and the misguided CN strategy together provide.... areas secured by the ISAF can stay that way only with an end to cannabis prohibtion...
right now the Opium economy is at the heart of the Central Asian problem - it is about 35% of Afghanistan's economy... this year it has grown again... and it cannot simply be eradicated - something must be put in its place - mint and saffron simply will not do... only cannabis can make the grade
and right now in Europe first grade "Kabuli" charas can fetch about 10GBP per gram... as they say in the USA - "you do the Math"
not much imagination is needed for the rest -
with the birth of a legitimate charas economy Peshawar and Kabul rather than being potential/actual hotbeds of radicalism can become the focal points of economic and infrastructural growth they need to be -
this applies to the Tribal Agencies also and is a means by which the interests of even the most radical Pashtun tribes can become harmonised with central government in Paksitan and Afghanistan...
in the long run even Kandahar, Quetta and Helmand can become stabilised - can transform from their present fragmented state as can only be done through the generation of a genuine common interest between local Pashtun tribes and the fledgling Afghan central government -
how else but by utilising the stablising potential of the charas economy, a potential which resides in the very land and culture of Afganistan and Pakistan?
the aims of farmers, ISAF and central government can thereby be unified, and rather than being a vortex into which hundreds of millions of dollars are thrown, the Afghan CN strategy becomes a means by which literally hundreds of millions are dollars produced through realising the potential already resident in the culture of these regions....
fields of cannabis along the rivers and irrigations of Helmand rather than being a place for Taleban fighters to hide from the night-vision cameras of ISAF troops can within a few years be the heart of an open, stable relationship between rural Norhtern Pashtun tries and central government in Kabul
roads, schools, security, wealth etc. etc.
the key to securing and enriching areas of key importance for the future ahead of us is a regulated economy in ganja and charas... in fact I believe it lies at the very heart of peacefully bringing together the cultures of the Islamic world with the cultures of the West
Last edited:
Alfred-cannaria
Member
ngakpa, thanks for this info, it ´s really interesting. I love this thread.
Peace and love.
Peace and love.
ngakpa, I wish it were that simple.
This yr's opium crop hit record levels for the 2nd straight yr. While production was down in the traditional northern regions, the Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold, has fast become a huge opium producer, the largest on earth. The Taliban encourage and protect the farmers, and there are increasingly more labs to process opium to heroin for increased profits.
Poppy prices that are 10 times higher than those for legal crops, have so warped the local economy that some farmhands refuse to take jobs harvesting legal crops.
That leaves our beloved marijuana in a tenuous position. As long as Afghanistan produces 90+% of the world's narcotics, MJ farming will become a very small industry as well as a scapegoat in eradication efforts.
A very sad thing for the small-time farmer.
This yr's opium crop hit record levels for the 2nd straight yr. While production was down in the traditional northern regions, the Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold, has fast become a huge opium producer, the largest on earth. The Taliban encourage and protect the farmers, and there are increasingly more labs to process opium to heroin for increased profits.
Poppy prices that are 10 times higher than those for legal crops, have so warped the local economy that some farmhands refuse to take jobs harvesting legal crops.
That leaves our beloved marijuana in a tenuous position. As long as Afghanistan produces 90+% of the world's narcotics, MJ farming will become a very small industry as well as a scapegoat in eradication efforts.
A very sad thing for the small-time farmer.
G
Guest
great info keep it coming. 
G
Guest
Is our goverment here in the us responsable for this situation? Proably
Alfred-cannaria
Member
Hi freinds of Kush, today i was seen the world of seeds web and see Pakistán valley and Afghan... anyone know something of these? are really good kushes?
Thanks for all friends.
Peace and love.
Thanks for all friends.
Peace and love.
hiya - very aware of the situation in Helmand and stand by what I am saying
a global market in cannabis in which licenses to cultivate and sell cannabis are provided by central governments is a strategic solution to winning the "War on Terror" and countless other conflicts from Congo to Colombia
drug prohibtion is providing capital which is providing the arms and strategic platform on which countless regional insurgencies are being staged
the key strategic problem in Helamd is that the ISAF forces are not able to maintain their hold on areas and keep them free of opium cultivation - the "alternative livelihood" solutions being presented are the likes of growing saffron and mint...
talk of winning the war on opium cultivation in Thailand and Pakistan is a total falsification of the reality of the heroin trade in South and Southeast Asia... Burma, Lao, Bihar and Arunachal Bradesh etc. etc. etc.
FCO COMMENTS ON THE UNODC POPPY SURVEY (27/08/07)
From an FCO offcial spokesman:
'The increase in Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan for a second year in a row is a real cause for concern. This has been driven by rising cultivation in Helmand and the South, in areas where security conditions prevent us from pursuing an integrated approach. The figures for Helmand are particularly disappointing.
'But there are signs of progress. In parts of the north, and centre, cultivation is coming down or stabilising and the number of poppy free provinces has increased from 6 to 13. Balkh, once the third largest poppy cultivator in the country has been declared poppy free. This progress suggests that the integrated approach to the narcotics problem set out by the Afghan government can produce results. In these areas we need to reinforce progress.
'On the 9 August Lord Malloch-Brown announced a future package of measures to tackle the drugs trade in Afghanistan including an additional £22.5 million for the Afghan interdiction forces.
'However, we must be realistic in our expectations for progress. Ridding Afghanistan of this curse will take a generation, perhaps more - in Thailand and Pakistan it took 15 to 20 years. There are no short cuts to ending the drug trade and we must be wary of silver bullet solutions, which will not work. We have learnt from successes in Pakistan and SE Asia that a balanced approach is essential.'
Notes to editors
Helmand is the main source of opium poppy production in the country. Cultivation in Helmand has risen by 48% following a 162% rise in 2006. The province is now responsible for over half of the entire Afghan poppy crop.
Of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, 13 are now poppy free as opposed to just 6 last year
On the 9 August the British government announced a package of measures to help accelerate the National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) in the north and centre and respond to the situation in Helmand and the south. This package of activities includes an additional £22.5 million for the Afghan interdiction forces to disrupt the operations of influential traffickers and weaken their links to the insurgency. It puts a greater focus on military support for counter narcotics. And it provides further funding to help expand the Good Performers Initiative to provide an incentive for governors to reduce cultivation in their provinces.
The Afghan government’s NDCS is a balanced, eight pillar plan which includes the whole range of activities required to combat the drugs trade.
http://www.fco.gov.uk/
Counter-Narcotics
The problem
Afghanistan is the world's leading supplier of opiates, trafficked as opium, morphine and heroin. For many farmers, poppy cultivation is a low-risk activity in a high-risk environment.
Opiates being burned in Afghanistan
Opiates being burned in Afghanistan
Drugs are one of the gravest threats to the long term security, development and effective governance of Afghanistan. The threat from drugs to Afghanistan’s reconstruction and development ranks alongside the threat from the Taleban. President Karzai has described the trade as the most corrosive element in Afghan society.
It is impossible to tackle Afghanistan’s problems today if we put-off dealing with the drugs menace until tomorrow. Opium economy accounts for more than 30% of GDP, and drug related crime and corruption are rife and permeate all levels of society. The Afghan Government has made clear its commitment to tackling the trade. President Karzai has condemned involvement in the opium trade as illegal and un-Islamic.
It is too early to predict overall cultivation levels for 2007, but it is likely that Afghanistan may be facing another year of high poppy cultivation. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Winter Assessment Survey (WAS) is a snapshot that identifies early trends in cultivation. The WAS shows a mixed picture. It suggests that cultivation is down in the north; stable in the centre and west; but heading up in the south and east, including in Helmand, Kandahar and Nangarhar. The WAS appears to show that, like last year, there continue to be cultivation reductions in areas where there is better security, governance and development.
Tackling the counter narcotics trade
As partner nation (and former G8 lead), the UK is supporting the Government of Afghanistan (GoA) to tackle the narcotics trade. Essential to this is the delivery of the GoA's updated National Drugs Control Strategy (NDCS), which was launched at the London Conference on Afghanistan, 31 January - 1 February 2006. The NDCS sets out the GoA's CN policies over the next five years and highlights four key priorities where activity is likely to make the greatest impact in the short-term, namely:
* Targeting the trafficker and the trade
* Strengthening and diversifying legal rural livelihoods
* Developing effective CN institutions
* Demand reduction
The UK contribution
The UK is delivering support to the Afghan CN campaign across all four priorities and will spend over £270 million over the next three years in support of the NDCS. The Afghan Drug Inter-Departmental Unit (ADIDU), based in the UK, and the British Embassy Drugs Team (BEDT) based in Afghanistan, were set up to co-ordinate our support. Reporting bi-monthly to the Prime Minister, they work closely with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to deliver progress against the NDCS. Both ADIDU and BEDT include staff from other government departments, including HM Revenue and Customs, Department for International Development, Home Office, Ministry of Defence and Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Dr Kim Howells (right) and the Afghan Counter Narcotics Minister, Habibullah Qaderi, hold a joint press conference
Dr Kim Howells and the Afghan Counter Narcotics Minister, Habibullah Qaderi, in London on 5 September 2005
Targeting the trafficker and the trade
The UK will continue to work with international partners to develop the interdiction, intelligence and investigation capacity of the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA), the lead drugs law enforcement agency. Delivery of UK-funded training is led by SOCA. The training is currently concentrated in Kabul and is extending into seven key provincial offices. For its part, the GoA will ensure the transparency and accountability of drug law enforcement agencies and ensure that CN is factored into the mandates of regular law enforcement agencies, including the Afghan Border Police. In the last 12 months there has been an increase in seizures and the number of laboratories destroyed.
In February 2007, EU Foreign Ministers approved a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) mission in the field of policing, with linkages to the wider rule of law sector. The mission will help bring together counter narcotics (CN), justice and policing; and tackle Ministry of Interior reform. The purpose of the mission is to raise the overall standards of policing activity in Afghanistan, and to start the process of mainstreaming some of the counter- narcotics training done so far.
Together with the international community the UK is also working to recruit and train a CN Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) of Afghan investigators, prosecutors and judges, capable of delivering successful drugs investigations and prosecutions. New CN legislation containing strong messages against perversion of the course of justice was adopted in December 2005, the CJTF has convicted over 350 traffickers in the last 18 months and there has been an increase in drugs related seizures.
Building institutions
Building durable Afghan institutions is fundamental to long-term success. The UK is supporting the establishment of strong, well-resourced and co-ordinated institutions capable of leading an international effort to eliminate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. We are funding a £12.5 million Institutional Development project to strengthen the Ministry of CN and other CN institutions in Afghanistan. We have also helped the GoA to create a CN Trust Fund (CNTF) to mobilise international donor support. This fund is central to building Afghan CN capacity, planning and resource transparency. The UK is channelling £30 million worth of CN assistance through the CNTF over a three-year period and $83.6m has so far been raised in total.
Poppy eradication in Afghanistan
Poppy eradication in Afghanistan
Strengthening and diversifying legal rural livelihoods
DfID is spending £130 million over three years on alternative livelihoods including £30 million in Helmand for Afghans involved in poppy cultivation. This includes the National Rural Access Programme (NRAP), which provides short-term work through building essential local infrastructure. Since April 2003 over 12.9 million labour days have been provided and over 9,002 km of roads rehabilitated. Almost US$102 million micro-finance loans have been disbursed over the last two years and US$180 million in grants approved to some 16,500 Community Development Councils for small scale productive infrastructure projects
Demand Reduction
Demand reduction is a priority of the NDCS. With UK support, the Ministry of CN is working with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to increase understanding of drug dependency, addiction and drug abuse prevention methods. The UK has also assisted in the development of a set of drug abuse prevention guidelines and protocols, which were approved by the GoA at the beginning of April 2005. Work is underway to provide 36 specialists who will train 1,800 community leaders, tribal elders, mullahs, schoolteachers and community health workers in six provinces over 2006. The UK is also providing support for the creation and upgrade of drug treatment centres and community based awareness centres for drug users in Herat, Kandahar, Kabul, Gardez and Faizabad.
Key Documents
The Afghan National Drug Control Strategy
PDF National Drug Control Strategy - Jan 2006 (PDF)
The annual Drivers of Opium Cultivation report is produced by an independent consultant for the ADIDU. It looks at the diversity in opium poppy cultivation across Afghanistan and provides a detailed examination of the factors influencing farmers' decisions to plant poppy
PDF Beyond the Metrics: Understanding the Nature of Change in the Rural Livelihoods of Opium Poppy Growing Households in the 2006/07 Growing Season (PDF, 518K)
An Analysis of Licit Opium Poppy Cultivation: India and Turkey - April 2001
DOC An Analysis of Licit Opium Poppy Cultivation: India and Turkey - April 2001 (DOC)
Updated: May 2007
a global market in cannabis in which licenses to cultivate and sell cannabis are provided by central governments is a strategic solution to winning the "War on Terror" and countless other conflicts from Congo to Colombia
drug prohibtion is providing capital which is providing the arms and strategic platform on which countless regional insurgencies are being staged
the key strategic problem in Helamd is that the ISAF forces are not able to maintain their hold on areas and keep them free of opium cultivation - the "alternative livelihood" solutions being presented are the likes of growing saffron and mint...
talk of winning the war on opium cultivation in Thailand and Pakistan is a total falsification of the reality of the heroin trade in South and Southeast Asia... Burma, Lao, Bihar and Arunachal Bradesh etc. etc. etc.
FCO COMMENTS ON THE UNODC POPPY SURVEY (27/08/07)
From an FCO offcial spokesman:
'The increase in Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan for a second year in a row is a real cause for concern. This has been driven by rising cultivation in Helmand and the South, in areas where security conditions prevent us from pursuing an integrated approach. The figures for Helmand are particularly disappointing.
'But there are signs of progress. In parts of the north, and centre, cultivation is coming down or stabilising and the number of poppy free provinces has increased from 6 to 13. Balkh, once the third largest poppy cultivator in the country has been declared poppy free. This progress suggests that the integrated approach to the narcotics problem set out by the Afghan government can produce results. In these areas we need to reinforce progress.
'On the 9 August Lord Malloch-Brown announced a future package of measures to tackle the drugs trade in Afghanistan including an additional £22.5 million for the Afghan interdiction forces.
'However, we must be realistic in our expectations for progress. Ridding Afghanistan of this curse will take a generation, perhaps more - in Thailand and Pakistan it took 15 to 20 years. There are no short cuts to ending the drug trade and we must be wary of silver bullet solutions, which will not work. We have learnt from successes in Pakistan and SE Asia that a balanced approach is essential.'
Notes to editors
Helmand is the main source of opium poppy production in the country. Cultivation in Helmand has risen by 48% following a 162% rise in 2006. The province is now responsible for over half of the entire Afghan poppy crop.
Of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, 13 are now poppy free as opposed to just 6 last year
On the 9 August the British government announced a package of measures to help accelerate the National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) in the north and centre and respond to the situation in Helmand and the south. This package of activities includes an additional £22.5 million for the Afghan interdiction forces to disrupt the operations of influential traffickers and weaken their links to the insurgency. It puts a greater focus on military support for counter narcotics. And it provides further funding to help expand the Good Performers Initiative to provide an incentive for governors to reduce cultivation in their provinces.
The Afghan government’s NDCS is a balanced, eight pillar plan which includes the whole range of activities required to combat the drugs trade.
http://www.fco.gov.uk/
Counter-Narcotics
The problem
Afghanistan is the world's leading supplier of opiates, trafficked as opium, morphine and heroin. For many farmers, poppy cultivation is a low-risk activity in a high-risk environment.
Opiates being burned in Afghanistan
Opiates being burned in Afghanistan
Drugs are one of the gravest threats to the long term security, development and effective governance of Afghanistan. The threat from drugs to Afghanistan’s reconstruction and development ranks alongside the threat from the Taleban. President Karzai has described the trade as the most corrosive element in Afghan society.
It is impossible to tackle Afghanistan’s problems today if we put-off dealing with the drugs menace until tomorrow. Opium economy accounts for more than 30% of GDP, and drug related crime and corruption are rife and permeate all levels of society. The Afghan Government has made clear its commitment to tackling the trade. President Karzai has condemned involvement in the opium trade as illegal and un-Islamic.
It is too early to predict overall cultivation levels for 2007, but it is likely that Afghanistan may be facing another year of high poppy cultivation. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Winter Assessment Survey (WAS) is a snapshot that identifies early trends in cultivation. The WAS shows a mixed picture. It suggests that cultivation is down in the north; stable in the centre and west; but heading up in the south and east, including in Helmand, Kandahar and Nangarhar. The WAS appears to show that, like last year, there continue to be cultivation reductions in areas where there is better security, governance and development.
Tackling the counter narcotics trade
As partner nation (and former G8 lead), the UK is supporting the Government of Afghanistan (GoA) to tackle the narcotics trade. Essential to this is the delivery of the GoA's updated National Drugs Control Strategy (NDCS), which was launched at the London Conference on Afghanistan, 31 January - 1 February 2006. The NDCS sets out the GoA's CN policies over the next five years and highlights four key priorities where activity is likely to make the greatest impact in the short-term, namely:
* Targeting the trafficker and the trade
* Strengthening and diversifying legal rural livelihoods
* Developing effective CN institutions
* Demand reduction
The UK contribution
The UK is delivering support to the Afghan CN campaign across all four priorities and will spend over £270 million over the next three years in support of the NDCS. The Afghan Drug Inter-Departmental Unit (ADIDU), based in the UK, and the British Embassy Drugs Team (BEDT) based in Afghanistan, were set up to co-ordinate our support. Reporting bi-monthly to the Prime Minister, they work closely with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to deliver progress against the NDCS. Both ADIDU and BEDT include staff from other government departments, including HM Revenue and Customs, Department for International Development, Home Office, Ministry of Defence and Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Dr Kim Howells (right) and the Afghan Counter Narcotics Minister, Habibullah Qaderi, hold a joint press conference
Dr Kim Howells and the Afghan Counter Narcotics Minister, Habibullah Qaderi, in London on 5 September 2005
Targeting the trafficker and the trade
The UK will continue to work with international partners to develop the interdiction, intelligence and investigation capacity of the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA), the lead drugs law enforcement agency. Delivery of UK-funded training is led by SOCA. The training is currently concentrated in Kabul and is extending into seven key provincial offices. For its part, the GoA will ensure the transparency and accountability of drug law enforcement agencies and ensure that CN is factored into the mandates of regular law enforcement agencies, including the Afghan Border Police. In the last 12 months there has been an increase in seizures and the number of laboratories destroyed.
In February 2007, EU Foreign Ministers approved a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) mission in the field of policing, with linkages to the wider rule of law sector. The mission will help bring together counter narcotics (CN), justice and policing; and tackle Ministry of Interior reform. The purpose of the mission is to raise the overall standards of policing activity in Afghanistan, and to start the process of mainstreaming some of the counter- narcotics training done so far.
Together with the international community the UK is also working to recruit and train a CN Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) of Afghan investigators, prosecutors and judges, capable of delivering successful drugs investigations and prosecutions. New CN legislation containing strong messages against perversion of the course of justice was adopted in December 2005, the CJTF has convicted over 350 traffickers in the last 18 months and there has been an increase in drugs related seizures.
Building institutions
Building durable Afghan institutions is fundamental to long-term success. The UK is supporting the establishment of strong, well-resourced and co-ordinated institutions capable of leading an international effort to eliminate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. We are funding a £12.5 million Institutional Development project to strengthen the Ministry of CN and other CN institutions in Afghanistan. We have also helped the GoA to create a CN Trust Fund (CNTF) to mobilise international donor support. This fund is central to building Afghan CN capacity, planning and resource transparency. The UK is channelling £30 million worth of CN assistance through the CNTF over a three-year period and $83.6m has so far been raised in total.
Poppy eradication in Afghanistan
Poppy eradication in Afghanistan
Strengthening and diversifying legal rural livelihoods
DfID is spending £130 million over three years on alternative livelihoods including £30 million in Helmand for Afghans involved in poppy cultivation. This includes the National Rural Access Programme (NRAP), which provides short-term work through building essential local infrastructure. Since April 2003 over 12.9 million labour days have been provided and over 9,002 km of roads rehabilitated. Almost US$102 million micro-finance loans have been disbursed over the last two years and US$180 million in grants approved to some 16,500 Community Development Councils for small scale productive infrastructure projects
Demand Reduction
Demand reduction is a priority of the NDCS. With UK support, the Ministry of CN is working with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to increase understanding of drug dependency, addiction and drug abuse prevention methods. The UK has also assisted in the development of a set of drug abuse prevention guidelines and protocols, which were approved by the GoA at the beginning of April 2005. Work is underway to provide 36 specialists who will train 1,800 community leaders, tribal elders, mullahs, schoolteachers and community health workers in six provinces over 2006. The UK is also providing support for the creation and upgrade of drug treatment centres and community based awareness centres for drug users in Herat, Kandahar, Kabul, Gardez and Faizabad.
Key Documents
The Afghan National Drug Control Strategy
PDF National Drug Control Strategy - Jan 2006 (PDF)
The annual Drivers of Opium Cultivation report is produced by an independent consultant for the ADIDU. It looks at the diversity in opium poppy cultivation across Afghanistan and provides a detailed examination of the factors influencing farmers' decisions to plant poppy
PDF Beyond the Metrics: Understanding the Nature of Change in the Rural Livelihoods of Opium Poppy Growing Households in the 2006/07 Growing Season (PDF, 518K)
An Analysis of Licit Opium Poppy Cultivation: India and Turkey - April 2001
DOC An Analysis of Licit Opium Poppy Cultivation: India and Turkey - April 2001 (DOC)
Updated: May 2007
Last edited:
G
Guest
We all know that ligalizeing mj would cure problems every where. Here in the U S alone the money wasted on the drug war is insane, But this get this thread back on the topic of KUSH More pictures and info on the breeding and growing of this strain. OG what you got going on your grow room? And by the way how is the double d tasting? havent seen you up date your thread in the flower pic thread. And Iwould like to here some more from Tom Hill. What do you guys think is the all time best kush youve growen?
A
Afghanicus
pics
pics
here is some more pics of sensi seeds hindu kush for those interested.
peace
pics
here is some more pics of sensi seeds hindu kush for those interested.
peace
- Status
