NATO rebuffed a Russian call for it to eradicate opium poppy fields in Afghanstan, saying today that Moscow could do more to help fight drug trafficking by Taliban insurgents if it wanted, according to Reuters. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin made clear on Monday that Moscow was concerned about reports of plans by NATO to give up on destroying poppy fields, including in territories taken from the Taliban. He spoke after U.S. Marines battling over the Taliban stronghold of Marjah said they were introducing a programme to pay opium poppy farmers to destroy their own crops without a fight, instead of NATO troops destroying the poppies. NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the problem had to be handled carefully to avoid alienating local people, and the alliance continued to target drug lords and drug labs. "We cannot be in a situation where we remove the only source of income of people who live in the second poorest country in the world without being able to provide them with an alternative," he told a news briefing. Appathurai said NATO understood Russian concerns, given U.N. estimates that Russia had more than 200,000 heroin and morphine addicts and 30,000 dying from addiction each year. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had asked Moscow for increased support in Afghanistan, including more help in training counter-narcotics officials and helicopters for the overall counter-insurgency effort. "We are still waiting for an answer, but we know the Russian Federation is working on (it)," he said.
