LONDON: March 27, 2009. (PCP) The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) today welcomed President Obama’s revised strategy for Afghanistan. The announced shift from the ‘bullets and bombs’ approach of his predecessor to one of sustained development is desperately needed. ICOS field research in southern Afghanistan over the past five years has documented the devastating impact of the previous strategy. “We hope that this increased focus upon training ANA and ANP forces, and the placement of more civilian developmental experts on-the-ground, will see a reduction in the devastating kinetic operations that have come to characterise the military effort,” said Paul Burton, Director of Policy at ICOS. “Should this new focus not be pursued vigorously, then the hearts and minds of ordinary Afghans will be lost for a generation.” Although President Obama’s new strategy outlined the broad goal of ending the country’s reliance upon the illicit opium economy, the announcement was short on detail regarding how this will happen. “It is crucial that President Obama breaks from the same failed counter-narcotics policies of the past, which, if continued, will prove catastrophic to both the Afghan people and the coalition troops serving there,” said Burton. “President Obama can send out an immediate message that he is serious about undermining the opium economy by calling for the establishment of a Poppy for Medicine pilot project”, said Burton. “This project – which converts Afghan opium into morphine - will offer Afghan farming communities a licit income and cut off a key source of revenue for the insurgents.” "We urge the administration to undertake a wholesale review of opium policy in Afghanistan,” said Burton. President Obama’s repeated call for an international approach to Afghanistan is welcome, says Burton, but “must be heeded by European NATO allies, many of whom are yet to pull their weight in Afghanistan.” ICOS has proposed a Poppy for Medicine licensing initiative which calls for pilot projects that would allow Afghan farmers to cultivate poppies for the production of morphine. This would address the global shortage of painkillers in the developing world and help diversify the economy of Afghanistan's rural communities. Afghanistan’s poppy fields now provide 93% of the world’s heroin, which continues to fund the growing Taliban insurgency.