Buy the poppy crop
Sir: In his article of over 1,000 words on Afghanistan, David Miliband devotes 12 words to the opium trade ('Why we are in Afghanistan for the long haul', 11 August). Afghanistan is by far the planet's largest supplier of heroin; of that, 40 per cent comes from Helmand, where Britain is in charge. There, the largest poppy crop ever is about to be harvested. Millions of people around the world are affected in various ways by this drug — murdered, addicted, or threatened by the crime surrounding the vast international heroin business. Afghan warlords, whom we are reluctant to alienate, control much of this heroin. In the late 1960s, during the Indochinese war, I saw the same predicament in Laos; its substantial heroin production, most of it destined for American soldiers in Vietnam, was overseen by a client of the United States, 'General' Vang Pao, later flown into exile in Montana. Then as now a solution would have been to buy up the poppy crop — cheap, compared to the horrendous cost of the heroin when it reaches us.
Jonathan Mirsky London W11
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