Poppy crop destroyed in Kandahar

Officials with Kandahar’s counter-narcotics department said on January 23 that they have destroyed a 45-acre opium poppy crop in the southern province. The head of the department, Gul Mohammad Shukran, said they had started an anti-poppy drive in the four districts of Arghandab, Maiwand, Dand and Zirai, and had faced no resistance from the farmers during the eradication process. Shuran added that 23 million US dollars had been earmarked for Kandahar under the alternative livelihoods programme. Ghulam Mohammad, a resident of Arghandab district, said the government should first address the farmers’ basic needs, and only then eliminate the poppies.