Memorandum submitted by The Senlis Council
INTRODUCTION
1. The Senlis Council is an international
policy think tank established by The Network of European Foundations,
with country offices in Kabul, London, Ottawa, Rio de Janeiro,
Paris and Brussels. The Council's work encompasses security, development
and counter-narcotics policies, and aims to provide innovative
analysis and proposals within these areas.
2. The Senlis Council's extensive programme
in Afghanistan focuses on global policy development. The Council
has been conducting in-depth field research in the country for
the past three years, investigating the relationships between
counter-narcotics, military and development policies, and their
impact on reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Senlis Afghanistan
has field offices in the cities of Lashkar Gah and Kandahar.
THE URGENCY
TO IMPLEMENT
A COHERENT
CAMPAIGN IN
AFGHANISTAN
3. Notwithstanding six years of strong international
presence and commitment, Afghanistan is presently faced with a
multifaceted crisis: southern provinces are ravaged by extreme
poverty and the rise of insurgency. At the centre of this nexus
lies the opium crisis with illegal production reaching unprecedented
levels, as indicated by the United Nations Office on Drugs Control
(UNODC) in its latest report of August 2007. The link between
opium production and increasing insecurity is of grave concern.
4. In southern Afghanistan's insecure environment,
essential food and development aid fails to reach the population
in need. In turn, this has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis
and fuelled public disillusionment towards the UK's military and
counter-narcotics operations. Critically, the ineffectiveness
to address the population's basic needs has facilitated the rise
of a grassroots insurgency. Afghans living in the numerous refugee
camps under appalling conditions, often as a result of aerial
bombing campaigns, are being recruited by the insurgents. The
south of Afghanistan is becoming a recruitment camp for the Taliban,
with a deep pool of young, unemployed men willing to fight primarily
for economic rather than ideological reasons.
5. The reconstruction mission in Afghanistan
is at a crossroads: unbalanced, incoherent and ineffective development,
military and counter-narcotics policies severely jeopardise the
mission. We are now entering a vicious cycle that can only be
broken by a radical overhaul of policy. The ever-swelling number
of rank-and-file Taliban is leading to fiercer resistance against
Western forces in the south; there are not enough troops to face
the level of hostility effectively, and as military fatalities
rise, so aerial bombings increase. This in turn leads to more
civilian deaths, which fuel anger and prompt membership of the
Taliban, thereby perpetuating the cycle.
6. Recommendation: It is imperative
that the UK Government takes on a coherent campaign reconciling
development, counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics efforts.
A complete package of clear objectives and diverse development-based
interventions complemented by military efforts is urgently required.
The provision of effective development and essential aid, and
a positive counter-narcotics strategy must be an immediate response
to Afghanistan's emergency.
ADDRESSING THE
NEEDS OF
THE REAL
AFGHANISTAN: PAVING
THE WAY
FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGY
7. The Senlis Council commends the UK and
Department for International Development (DFID) on its significant
contribution to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. In particular,
its commitment to spending £330 million on reconstruction
and development in the country by March 2009. It is crucial that
a significant portion of this money goes towards desperately required
food aid and healthcare, particularly in the conflict-ravaged
southern provinces.
8. The reality in southern Afghanistan is
one of escalating violence and poverty. The Senlis Council has
conducted extensive field research across the numerous and often
overlooked refugee camps in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, revealing
the true extent of hunger and despair in the region. Our field
research has indicated that the current system of food aid is
failing to address even the minimum needs of the hundreds of thousands
of victims of violent conflict and drought.
9. Should the UK fail to deliver the desperately
needed humanitarian and development assistance across Afghanistan,
stabilisation efforts in the country are likely to fail. The Taliban
are capitalising on this development vacuum in southern Afghanistan,
gaining psychological control of the local population through
coercive means, and increasing its attractiveness as a potential
source of income for ordinary Afghans deprived of alternative
ways in which to provide for their families.
10. In order to regain local confidence
and support, the British effort in southern Afghanistan needs
to be closely associated with development interventions, enabling
immediate aid to reach the population and promoting initiatives
to bring economic development and stability in the short and medium-term.
British forces in Helmand province are doing a commendable job
in an increasingly hostile environment and could potentially support
DFID's activities in those areas, helping to identify the Afghan
population most in need, securing the areas and assisting with
aid delivery. Importantly, a strong presence and effective provision
of essential aid would help support the military operations.
11. Recommendation: A coherent development
policy that addresses the real and immediate needs of the Afghan
people must be put in place. This calls for an immediate and widespread
distribution of food aid and healthcare until medium-term development
can be provided in a sustainable manner.
OPIUM: IMMEDIATE
RESPONSE IN
REBUILDING AFGHANISTAN'S
ECONOMY
12. Despite the scale of poppy eradication
operations in 2007, according to UNODC figures opium production
has reached 193,000ha, representing a 17% increase compared to
2006. In the absence of sustainable alternative livelihoods, opium
remains the only source of livelihood for 14.3% of the entire
Afghan population.
13. Based on extensive field research, The
Senlis Council has developed a village-based Poppy for Medicine
model for Afghanistan as a means of bringing illegal poppy cultivation
under control in an immediate yet sustainable manner. The Poppy
for Medicine (P4M) project is an integrated counter-narcotics
and counter-insurgency initiative that seeks to introduce village-based
development projects in rural Afghan communities to boost employment
and rural development, stimulate rural diversification and connect
Afghan poppy cultivation with those in need of essential painkilling
medicines. P4M projects link Afghanistan's two most valuable resources—poppy
cultivation and strong local governance and control systems—through
the controlled cultivation of poppy for the local production of
pharmaceutical-grade morphine.
14. A Poll conducted in the UK on P4M reveals
vast support for our proposals on both sides of the Atlantic.
Although all four of the states polled—the UK, America,
Canada and The Netherlands—were in favour of pilot P4M projects
in Afghanistan, UK opinion was particularly firm in its support
of such an initiative. An overwhelming 86% supported P4M projects,
and moreover, 80% stated that they would use Afghan produced morphine.
There was also a significant disapproval of chemical eradication
of opium poppy, with 74% of those polled expressing their opposition
to this policy.
15. Recommendation: The Senlis Council
urges DFID to support its call for the immediate implementation
of two pilot P4M projects in two pre-identified villages in southern
Afghanistan.
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