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Transcript of PM’s interview with BBC World Service
[5 April 2002]
Transcript of PM’s interview with BBC World Service
In an interview with BBC World Service today (5 April), Prime Minister Tony Blair discussed the current situation in Afghanistan, including its reconstruction and tackling the problem of drug trafficking. 90 per cent of the heroin on British streets come from Afghanistan.
Read the interview in full below.
Interviewer: I would like you to talk about Afghanistan. I assume Afghanistan would be part of your talks in America as well.
PRIME MINISTER: Very definitely.
Interviewer: What is your plan. I mean, there’s a degree of stability in Afghanistan at the moment but is very delicate. How do you see the position there at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: It is fragile, you’re right, because there are still many things that have to happen before the situation can stabilise for the medium and long term. But we’re working hard on that. Britain as you know is leading the International Security Force there to try and provide security around Kabul. We’re putting a lot of effort into reconstructing Afghanistan, and then there’s this very, very important initiative that’s now been taken by the Chairman of the interim administration, Mr Karzai, to issue instructions to destroy the poppy crop in Afghanistan for this year. And we are giving every support to that. This is very, very important indeed. We have something like 90 per cent of the heroin on British streets comes from Afghanistan, 70 per cent of the world heroin does. Now many of these farms are poor people in Afghanistan who know no other way. And we’ve got to make sure that we not just destroy the crop but also offer them a better prospect for the future and we are prepared to fund that, are prepared to put resources behind it in order to make sure that the farmers are given an alternative lucrative source of cultivation.
Interviewer: But this seems to be only a short-term solution - it’s not a long-term solution. As you know Afghanistan has been through a drug-culture for many decades and it’s very difficult to get really to get rid of that culture. What in practise are you going to do to devoid the country of drug-cultivation as well as drug-trafficking?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think you’re right that we need something that works not just for this year but for a longer period of time. But the way to achieve that I think is as well as the short-term steps of the destruction of the crop, is to make sure that we are helping then the local farming communities, who after all don’t themselves make the big money out of heroin - the big money is made by the drug dealers in Europe and America and places like that - that the essence, I think, is to offer those farmers and local farming communities a different and better way of tilling land, growing things properly in a law-abiding way. And they will find, actually, for the medium- and long-term that that is better for them, for their families and for their local communities.
Interviewer: That means ensuring security in Afghanistan first before that could happen. Are you sure that the ISAF forces would be there long enough to ensure security in that country?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. I mean, we are there and we’re not suddenly going to depart the scene, and we’re working very closely, as are the Americans, with the Afghan interim administration in order to help them build their own security force, because in the end the best security for the people in Afghanistan is a proper, well-constituted security and armed force that is capable of achieving law and order for the citizens there, because I’m sure the people of Afghanistan are the same as people everywhere - they just want to be left in peace to live their lives and to prosper in the circumstances that peace brings.
Interviewer: Many Afghans, especially in the countryside, are interested in seeing ISAF forces in other cities in Afghanistan, beyond Kabul and also in the country as a whole because they don’t feel secure without that. What assurances can be given to them that that would happen?
PRIME MINISTER: We understand that concern, which is why we’re working with the Afghan interim administration to make sure that they have the facility overtime to be able to go into those areas themselves. Now at the present time at any rate the ISAF force is limited to Kabul and its environs. But, you know, our presence is still there, the American presence is still there. We are working very, very hard with the interim administration to make sure that such stability as there is, is deepened and maintained.
Interviewer: But your combat forces are going to be in Afghanistan working with the Americans against al-Qaeda and Taleban. Are they also going to be involved in the anti-drug campaign?
PRIME MINISTER: Well these are separate operations. On the issue of drugs I won’t go into the operational details to much, but obviously we want to work very closely with the interim administration to make sure that that proposal succeeds.
Interviewer: Do you think the administration has got enough forces as its disposal to carry what is required in order to carry out what is required in order to stop drug-trafficking and -production.
PRIME MINISTER: I think, with help, that it does, yes, and the most important thing is that people in those communities where the drug crop is being destroyed know that we aren’t just going to destroy the crop and leave them with nothing. What we want to do is to encourage them to develop a different source of agricultural produce…
Interviewer: Such as what?
PRIME MINISTER: … well, I mean, those are issues to discuss with them. But I mean, the fact is they could be growing other things. Afghanistan potentially is relatively fertile and wealthy, which is one of the tragedies of what’s happened to it over the past few years. But, you know we have shown in other countries how it is possible to divert agriculture from poppy growing into more sustainable and legitimate sources of production.
Interviewer: You are not worried that that West may get bogged down in Afghanistan?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that.. of course people are always very worried in my country, in other countries that we get drawn into another country’s internal problems over a long period of time. But on the other hand, I think that it is possible to move reasonably quickly on this, provided we are working closely with the Afghan Government. And September 11th showed us what happens when we don’t take action, when we leave a failed state basically living on terrorism and drugs, repressing its people brutally. When we leave that state in place then sooner or later we end up dealing with its consequences.
Interviewer: Some people in Afghanistan, especially in Kabul when I visited last month, were thinking that there isn’t a consistent policy in the West for dealing with the Afghan situation. To what extent do you think they’re right?
PRIME MINISTER: Inconsistent in what way?
Interviewer: In this instant the policy has been changing - why the British troops for instance didn’t go to begin with and waited until the Taleban re-emerged again.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, when you’re dealing with a situation that’s moving very fast, there are policy adjustments that we make. But really I think if you look back to what I was saying right from the very beginning, I was saying: one, that we needed to get rid of the Taleban as well as al-Qaeda; two, that we needed to make sure we didn’t repeat the mistakes of the late 1980s, when Afghanistan was liberated from a Soviet army, but then left to the devices of various war-lords. We’ve got to make sure this time that we do it properly.
Interviewer: Stopping drug-production and -trafficking from Afghanistan is not possible with the help of the neighbours such as Pakistan, Iran and the former Soviet republics. To what extent do you think they will co-operate?
PRIME MINISTER: We obviously work closely with them. Certainly at an official level they are co-operating. What we’ve got to make sure obviously is that we bind that official co-operation at all levels in their administration. But these are countries that have a lot to lose form the drugs trade in Afghanistan. As a result of the drugs trade in Iran for example I know many people, many hundreds of people, maybe even thousands of people have lost their lives, so I think they’ve got every incentive to co-operate.
Interviewer: Are you happy with the level of co-operation so far?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes I am. And I think that the fact that Mr Karzai felt in the position to make the statement that he has made is an indication that he believes that that international support is there. And I very much applaud his courage and his determination in doing this.
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