DEATHS IN AFGHANISTAN

That this House records its sorrow at the deaths of 54 British soldiers in Afghanistan in the past 14 months and salutes their courage and professionalism; regrets the misplaced optimism of the belief that the Helmand mission could be over in three years `without firing a single shot'; notes that half a million rounds have already been fired and little reconstruction has been finished because of the absence of non-governmental organisations; calls for a reassessment of the Helmand mission; is appalled at the abject failure of the poppy eradication programme, which has resulted in record production and the lowest ever price of heroin on British streets; is convinced that the threat to destroy the main livelihood of the people of Helmand has incited murderous resentment against UK troops and increased both support for the Taliban and the threat of terrorism in the UK; and believes that the only practical reform would be to license poppy farmers to use their crops to end world shortages of morphine and codeine.