Think Tank Warns of Crisis in Afghanistan: Taliban Closing in on Kabul

The Sydney Morning Herald and other global media sources report that an independent think-tank, the Senlis Council, has concluded that the resurgence of the Taliban has created a situation in Afghanistan of "crisis proportions." The Taliban, which was driven from the country by U.S. troops in 2001, is now active in slightly over half of the country and is threatening the capital city of Kabul. The Taliban has predicted that it will be able to bring the insurgency to Kabul by 2008.

The Senlis Council, which is based in Brussels, London, Ottawa and Paris and has an office in Kabul, was created in 2002 as an international think tank addressing the international narcotics trade. The philosophy of the Senlis Council is that the consumption of narcotics should be addressed as a public health policy issue, not entirely as a criminal matter.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the Council increasingly has addressed the country's opium trade, which its experts see as the keystone to solving Afghanistan's security and economic problems. The Senlis Council advocates the licensing of opium poppy-growers to produce opiate-based medicines in local villages, which will then be disseminated to developing countries needing medicines.

Since 2006, the Senlis Council has made Afghanistan's security one of the focuses of its research.

The New York Timesreported on August 25, 2007, that the Taliban have boosted Afghani opium poppy production to a record level two years in a row, despite a $600-million effort by the United States to eradicate opium poppies and convert poppy farmers to alternative livelihoods. Based on a United Nations report, the Times news-item revealed that the Taliban managed to boost poppy production by 45% in Helmand Province, where its organization is centered. The Taliban urges farmers to grow poppies as the opium yielded by the poppies is a lucrative source of financing.