Tackling the poppy in Helmand

Following a 33% cut in poppy cultivation last year Gulab Mangal the Helmand Governor and Mark Sedwill the UK Ambassador to Afghanistan joined forces to promote this year’s campaign to cut the crop further.

For the second year running the Helmand Food Zone Programme is tackling the problem.

This year the target being set is even higher and already the scheme is being expanded to cover eight districts including Kanashin for the first time where US Marines have helped stabilise the area.

The programme will provide wheat seed and fertiliser to more than 39,000 Helmandi farmers to help them grow wheat rather than poppy.

To promote the programme Governor Mangal is touring Helmand. Yesterday he visited Sangin, where four hundred locals came to hear him speak.

He was joined by the UK Ambassador, who told the gathering:

“I ask every farmer and every father to ensure that your sons make the right choice. That they don’t fight for the Taliban, but they enrol in the Afghan Police and Afghan Army. That they don’t grow poppy, but they grow wheat to provide food to the people of Afghanistan.”

The UK is supporting the Governor’s programme with £10 million as part of its commitment to restoring the legitimate agricultural base in Helmand province.

HM Ambassador to Kabul Mark Sedwill blogs on today’s elections

HM Ambassador to Kabul Mark Sedwill

Afghanistan is at the polls. Thousands of polling stations opened across the country early this morning. As I write, millions of Afghans are voting to decide who should lead their country for the next five years.

I was out and about this morning and was able to visit a few polling stations. First thing it was quite quiet and I think the city was holding its breath, but we’re beginning to see people turning out in encouraging numbers and voting.

The insurgency has tried to derail these elections. But in terms of violent incidents, so far, I think we’re at the lower end of what people expected. We should also remember that the fact that they are happening at all is hugely important and reflects the considerable efforts of the Afghan institutions that have lead the planning for today. These elections are the next milestone towards a stable and secure Afghanistan , one that is able to deny safe haven to the terrorists who threaten both them and us. The priorities for the next Afghan government should be clear: tackle security, corruption and governance and deliver for ordinary Afghans – see the Foreign Secretary's article in Tuesday’s Daily Telegraph.

As the Foreign Secretary said in his speech at NATO HQ on 27 July, if there is to be lasting stability in Afghanistan , ordinary Afghans must feel they have a stake in their country’s future. Today is their chance to have their say in shaping that future.

Most fighting with Taliban in Afghanistan 'could change sides'

By Richard Norton-Taylor and Patrick Wintour

As many as two-thirds of those fighting with the Taliban could be persuaded to change sides, Mark Sedwill, Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan, said today.

He expressed cautious optimism about the conduct of the presidential elections later this month, saying that about 70% of the eligible population, even in Helmand, the most violent province, "will be able to vote".

However, he said the turnout was likely to be lower than in the last presidential election, in 2004, and British officials conceded that one of the problems was that it was difficult to know the number of potential voters in any given area, let alone the total population of the country.

Sedwill was speaking by video link from Kabul to a Foreign Office press conference at which he was asked about recent comments by the foreign secretary, David Miliband, that reconciliation could involve speaking to the "moderate" Taliban.

The ambassador replied that he preferred to describe them as people "going with the Taliban" rather than "members of the Taliban". He added: "Maybe two-thirds of those fighting with the Taliban are in that category [and] possibly could be brought back into legitimacy."

They could integrate into Afghan society and institutions, he suggested, particularly if they were given jobs packages. All the candidates had stressed the importance of "reconciliation" in their election campaigns, Sedwill added, saying the election represented a milestone in the development of the country.

"We have to recognise that these elections are going to be pretty rough and ready in places. They will not be up to the standards of a western democracy. The test of success is whether they are credible, secure and inclusive enough that they are seen as credible by the people."

Sedwill said the international community was not giving the Afghan government carte blanche to decide if the elections represented a credible expression of Afghan opinion, but said it would be primarily for the Afghan political class to decide if they had been free and fair.

Apart from 450 EU monitors there will be 7,000 independent Afghan monitors. Votes will be counted in the provinces in an attempt to prevent ballot rigging, which he described as being on an industrial scale at the centre. The full result may not be known until September 17, nearly a month after the polling day on August 22.

If no single candidate gains a majority of the vote after the first round, the top two candidates will battle it out in a run-off in early October.

President Hamid Karzai, the favourite to win, won 55% of the vote on a 70% turnout in 2004.

For the full article click here