Futile American policies aimed at eradicating the opium poppy crop in southern Afghanistan are costing the lives of both locals and Canadian soldiers, charged the London-based Senlis Council in a report released Wednesday.

"Canadian troops have been handed an impossible mission which can only lead to significant casualties," says the report by the policy think-tank.

"Until Canada fundamentally re-evaluates its approach and creates its own new strategy for its presence in Kandahar, with a clear split from the failed U.S. policies there, the Canadian mission in Afghanistan is blindly following a path that will lead to senseless military and civilian casualties."

The policy group criticized the efforts of the Canadian military, including the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar City, to help rebuild the economy.

The report's author denounced American operations such as the poppy eradication campaign, saying they have made the situation worse by driving rural farmers into extreme poverty, increasing local hostility and boosting support for the Taliban.

"The current approach of not only the Afghan government but also the international forces, who have a supporting role in that, is to eradicate these poppies, which means you're taking away the livelihoods of the local population," Senlis Council spokesperson Jorrit Kamminga told CTV.

"And without the consent of the local population, you can never create stability. That's our main point of criticism," he said.

Opium poppies, which do not require irrigation in the drought-stricken region, are a cornerstone of the local economy.

The drug harvest brings in 10 times as much money as a crop of wheat.

Production of opium, which is the main ingredient for heroin, has soared since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001.

But the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released a report earlier this week indicating the area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan decreased for the first time since 2001.

Still, the UN watchdog pointed out that the war-torn country accounts for 89 per cent of the worldwide production of opium.

Though Canadian troops aren't actively involved in poppy eradication, the report says Afghan farmers see them as complicit in the American-backed campaign.

The policy group also accused the Canadian military of accidentally killing innocent civilians during security raids.

"The deaths of innocent Kandahar civilians at the hands of the Canadian military has come to symbolize to the local population Canadian indifference to the Afghan people and to symbolize the failing mission in southern Afghanistan," the policy group says.

The report's authors offered a list of recommendations aimed at making progress in Afghanistan:

• Provide immediate financial aid for people living in extreme poverty.
• Meet more regularly with community leaders to better grasp how international policies are affecting them.
• Grant a grace period to allow farmers to continue cultivating poppies until alternative crops are developed.
• Allow farmers to grow poppies for medicines such as morphine and codeine.
• Balance use of military force with economic development projects.

Canadian reaction

The report was harshly received by military officials in Afghanistan.

"It is completely off. This report -- from what I've read -- tries to place the blame for the insurgency on those who are here to help Afghans instead of the insurgents," said Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, commander of the Patricia's battle group in Kandahar.

Hope called the report a subjective political document immersed in anti-American sentiment.

"I think the people who wrote this report are jealous of the Canadian efforts here. It makes me angry because it trivializes the efforts of soldiers on the ground who are doing the right thing every day," he said.

Hope also said not one Afghan civilian has been killed in any Canadian firefight with the Taliban.

Back in Canada, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor admitted poppy eradication was a tough sell in impoverished Afghanistan.

"We have to find some way to compensate the farmers,'' he said in Edmonton. "I believe that if you're going to destroy somebody's crop, you have to give them compensation.''

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada wants to eliminate both terrorism and drug trafficking.

"For that reason we support the efforts of the international community to eradicate drug production,'' he said.

"Of course, we're not directly involved in the eradication of the growing of poppies, but we do support those efforts and we support the efforts of providing alternatives to people.''

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier admitted he'd only skimmed the report and didn't know much about the group that prepared it.

Generally, however, "One of the worst things that we ever saw were people who would show up in a country, spend 24 to 48 hours in a country ... and then leave, now experts in everything with a solution for everything -- which invariably was wrong," he told Newsnet from Edmonton.

The mission was complex, and the drug trade was part of that, he said.

"We're learning every single day things about that mission. ... As a result, we're changing our tactics, procedures and our approach.

"We think we got it pretty much right, but we learn every day," Hillier said.

However, one Kandahar resident said Canada has brought promises and talk, but no results to their lives.

With a report from CTV's Craig Oliver