The United States is ending its efforts to eradicate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, the U.S. regional envoy said Wednesday following criticism that the U.S. approach to the issue has pushed farmers toward Taliban insurgents. Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said President Barack Obama's administration was making “significant adjustments” from the previous Bush administration in an effort to combat insurgency in Afghanistan. Holbrooke told a congressional committee that the United States has “a continued focus on stopping the drug trade, but within that, we are downgrading our efforts to eradicate crops—spraying—a policy we think is totally ineffectual.” “We are going to increase efforts in interdiction and going after the drug lords. So we're not downgrading narcotics, we're downgrading crop eradication,” Holbooke said, adding that the United States was increasing agricultural assistance to provide Afghan farmers with alternative livelihoods.
