Afghan MP Says British Troops Trained Opium Cultivation Experts In Helmand

April 21, 2010 (LPAC)—It was an open secret. Nonetheless, cited by an Afghan Member of Parliament, Nasimeh Niazi, the news will bend many ears inside, and outside of, Afghanistan. Niazi told the Fars News Agency (FNA), an Iranian news agency, on April 20 that the foreign forces deployed in Afghanistan were involved in the production and trafficking of illicit drugs in the country, adding that the British troops have even trained opium experts. Britain deployed 7,000 troops in Helmand province beginning in 2006. Helmand province, where almost 50% of Afghanistan's opium is produced, began to register huge growth in opium production that year. In 2007, it reached a level of 4,400 tons, which is almost the amount entire world consumes annually. Productivity of opium per hectare, aided by British research, has grown enormously.

Ms. Niazi also pointed out that Helmand province in southwestern Afghanistan has been transformed into a profitable center for foreign states to earn an expense fund for their deployment in the country. Heroine-production labs in Helmand, which did not exist before the US-led war in Afghanistan, are now plentiful and work overtly, Niazi added. It is also important to note that with the "foreign" (read: British) experts' help, conversion of opium into heroin has shown an almost 30% rise in Afghanistan.

Pointing to her recent trip to the Helmand province, she said that during the trip, foreign forces pretended that they were destroying opium poppy farms, but "I realized that they, in fact, destroyed some small farms whose owners were poor farmers who didn't have power, and had planted one or two hectares of opium poppy" to make a living.