Pullout inevitable- squo solves
BBC 10( BBC New, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8639029.stm , 4/)
Nato foreign ministers, and their partners in the international coalition in Afghanistan, have been meeting in the
Estonian capital Tallinn. They endorsed a plan to gradually transfer security and governance powers to Afghan authorities. The US and Nato have 126,000 troops there, rising to 150,000 by August. US President Barack Obama has said that the US aims to begin pulling troops out of Afghanistan in 2011. But at the heart of Nato's strategy is creating the right conditions to allow the Afghan government to take full control. July summit "As of today, we have a road map which will lead towards transition to Afghan lead [control], starting this year," Mr Rasmussen said. Nato says it now has a road map leading to transition "We agreed the approach we will take to transition. We set out a process, the conditions that will have to be met, and what we will do to make those conditions happen." Mr Rasmussen said that the transition must not only be "sustainable but irreversible". The BBC's Nick Childs - who is at the meeting in Estonia - says that Nato does not like talking about withdrawal or exit strategies for Afghanistan, especially when there are still key concerns about the relationship with the Afghan government and the performance of Afghan forces. Western allies have long seen a self-sufficient Afghan armed forces, with some support from Nato, as the key to ensuring Afghanistan's long-term stability. Mr Rasmussen said earlier this week that 450 military and police trainers were still needed to help build up the Afghan security forces. He said he hoped that the Afghan government and other donor countries would endorse the plan at a conference to be held in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in mid-July. The framework for security and development would also need to be approved by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Nato holds its next summit in November and officials say they hope the process could be launched by then. The coalition is currently engaged in an operation to drive the Taliban out of strongholds in the south of the country. In the latest fighting, two US soldiers and five Taliban insurgents were killed in a gun battle in Logar province near Kabul, Nato officials say. They say that a Taliban commander was also killed in the fighting, which took place on Thursday night. A Nato statement said that the fighting began during a joint military search operation in the Puli Alam district, following intelligence reports that "insurgent activity" was taking place there. "As the combined force approached the compound they began receiving hostile fire from different points, including heavy machine gun fire," the statement said. It said that a search of the compound later unearthed automatic rifles and material for making roadside bombs. The latest deaths bring the total of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 168, according to the icasualties.org website.
**CPs**
Alternative Crops CP- Solvency
Saffron is more profitable than opium- it would solve
Peter 2010 (Tom, June 10, “Why some Afghanistan opium farmers turn from poppies to saffron”, http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100610/wl_csm/306779_1, date accessed: 6/22/2010)AK
Eight years after getting out of the poppy business, Hajji Ibrahim says he doesn’t miss it. The farmer here inwestern Afghanistan used to employ 10 guards to protect his land from roving addicts and warlords. Harvesting the poppies was so strenuous that, though women often help with such work, he says those in his family could not help. Still, it was difficult to find a crop that produced returns like poppies. After the fall of the Taliban forced him to find other options, however, he planted a small, 300- square-meter (3/4 of acre) patch of saffron. It was easy to cultivate, so women could tend to it, and it was 20 percent more profitable than poppies. “As I balanced all the pros and cons of growing saffron or poppies, there were many benefits for saffron – mostly, it is not against Islamic law,” says Mr. Ibrahim, who now devotes a sizable 30,000 square meters (7.4 acres) of his land to saffron. With at least 80 percent of Afghanistan’s workforce involved in agriculture, policymakers have long focused on rehabilitating the farming sector to provide profitable options other than poppies, which fuel the country’sopium trade. The United States has touted wheat as an alternative crop, but with a market price three times lower than opium, few farmers care to make the switch. Saffron sells high on the international market and can be grown on otherwise unused fields. But it is nowhere near the perfect substitute for opium – farmers have struggled to effectively process and market saffron well enough to be competitive in the international market. As a result, Ibrahim says that before more of his neighbors devote their fields to saffron, they will have to see that it is a reliable source of income. That will not happen without better processing facilities. $2,000 per kilogramIn Herat, where a dry climate makes it one of the best saffron-growing regions in Afghanistan, currently 300 hectares of farmland are devoted to the purple flower – a number that should grow by about 100 hectares per year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Though that’s less than one percent of the region’s active agricultural land, US officials say saffron is one of the three most important crops in the province, the others being wheat and grapes. The plant is the most expensive spice in the world by weight and can sell for $2,000 to $3,000 per kilogram, whereas most of the food grown in the region is consumed by farmers or sold at local markets for a modest profit. Saffron has the potential to generate $100 million of income a year for Herat alone if the region can devote 5,000 to 7,000 hectares of farmland to the flower, says M. Hashim Astami, an independent saffron and natural resource expert in Herat. Saffron also grows on land that is traditionally too dry for other crops, so it would not replace anything currently being cultivated in the region or reduce food production. On top of that, the growing season is in October and November when other plants do not need water, so canals are full and there is ample water to irrigate the saffron fields.
Saffron is a profitable substitute for opium
Ghafour 4 (Hamida, April 4, “Afghan farmers turn to saffron as replacement for their opium crops”, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1458504/Afghan-farmers-turn-to-saffron-as-replacement-for-their-opium-crops.html, date accessed: 6/22/2010)AK
The Romans used it to scent their baths and Francis Bacon wrote that "it makes the English sprightly". Now, saffron - the most expensive spice in the world - could become an antidote to Afghanistan's opium production, and Britain's drug problem. About 400 farmers in the western province of Herat have begun to grow the spice - which retails for about £4 a gram in the UK - as a substitute crop for poppies, the opium sap of which produces heroin. When the saffron is harvested in the autumn, the farmers can expect to reap about $200 (£108) a kilogram (2.2lb). While less than the $300 they would make from a kilogram of illegally grown poppies, it is 100 times more than they would make from wheat, corn or oranges. Abdul Samed, a former poppy farmer, is looking forward to harvesting his saffron, grown on an acre of land. "Saffron is slowly improving our lives and it is not difficult work," he said. "Our country is getting better every day. I know farmers here who are growing poppy, but I am trying to encourage them to grow saffron. If I make a profit I will share it with other neighbours so that they see how good it can be."
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