<I>WHITE DEATH</I>' ENDURES IN THE LANDS OF CENTRAL ASIA - 2002-07-20

Dawn/Gemini News Service: Locals say an intervention by the Aga Khan, leader of the Ismaili community, helped halt the downward spiral. The billionaire, who has been channelling aid to the region since the fall of the Soviet Union, made his help dependent on the halt of drug cultivation and trafficking. 'And we know for a fact now that none of our farmers grow poppy,' said Mirza Jahani, chief executive officer of the Aga Khan Foundation in Tajikistan. 'We are involved in every community and we know what is going on.' In exchange for turning their back on the lucrative drug trade, the Aga Khan promised to increase the number of development projects in the area and started sending humanitarian help to the Afghan communities settled across the Panj River. Within a few years, the level of drug consumption and trafficking plunged dramatically in Khorog and its surrounding areas...