§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has held with his counterparts from(a) Dubai, (b) Uzbekistan, (c) Iran and (d) Pakistan concerning the trafficking of (i) opium and (ii) heroin out of Afghanistan; and whether the Government's opium eradication policy in Afghanistan includes combating the transporting of opium of Afghan origin in the region. [140820]
§ Mr. StrawThe UK is committed to supporting implementation of the Afghan National Drug Control Strategy which aims to eliminate the production of opium in Afghanistan within 10 years. The Afghan strategy includes tackling trafficking of drugs within Afghanistan and at its borders.
The UK is also tackling opium once it leaves Afghanistan. Pakistan, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan are some of the transit points for Afghan-produced heroin. Ministerial colleagues, Government officials and I regularly raise these issues with counterparts from these and many other countries. Most recently, I discussed drugs issues with the Iranian Foreign Minister when I met him in New York on 24 September 2003.
In May 2003 I attended the international conference in Paris hosted by the French government on "Drug Routes from Central Asia to Europe". This conference led to the formation of the Paris Pact which provides a consultative mechanism for drug and crime control for countries affected by the trafficking of Afghan opium.
§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress with the Government's policy on eradicating the production of opium in Afghanistan. [141008]
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§ Mr. StrawThe Afghan National Drug Control Strategy was adopted in May 2003. The objective of the strategy is to reduce opium poppy cultivation by 70 per cent. within five years and to eliminate it in 10 years. The UK has allocated £70 million over three years and posted additional personnel to Afghanistan to assist the Afghan authorities to implement a range of activities coherent with the strategy. Eradicating illicit poppy crop will form an important part of the drug control effort. However an eradication-led approach will not provide a sustainable solution to eliminating the cultivation of opium in Afghanistan and must be supported by other measures to build up law enforcement capacity, promote alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers and improve the effectiveness of Afghanistan's principal drug control institutions.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2003 survey showed an 8 per cent. increase in cultivation to 80,000 hectares and a 6 per cent. increase in production to 3,600 hectares. Although unwelcome, this increase is not unexpected given the poor security situation outside Kabul.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the amount of heroin(a) produced in Afghanistan and (b) exported to the UK from Afghanistan in each year since 2000; what the estimate is for 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [141351]
§ Mr. RammellAfghanistan is the source of 95 per cent. of the heroin exported to the UK. There are no reliable figures for the level of heroin production in Afghanistan. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) does however conduct an annual survey into the level of opium poppy cultivation and production. It has reported levels of cultivation and production since 2000 as follows:
Hectares Tonnes 2000 82,000 3,300 2001 8,000 185 2002 74,000 3,400 2003 80,000 3,600 The low level of cultivation and low production figure in 2001 reflect the Taliban ban on opium cultivation; the ban did not however address the underlying causes of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and was enforced with mix of threat and bribery. In March 2004 the UNODC will publish an Opium Rapid Assessment Survey for Afghanistan. This will give an early insight into the pattern of opium poppy cultivation for the 2003–04 growing season.
§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government expect to deploy additional British troops to Afghanistan during 2004. [141903]
§ Mr. IngramI have been asked to reply.
We have no plans to change the overall level of our military commitment in Afghanistan although, as with any operational deployment, we shall keep numbers and tasks under review.