US wages war on Afghan opium crop

[hedgetrimmer]

link: http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1294902003

~SNIP~

JAMES ASTILL IN KABUL


THE United States is scrambling for allies in a major international campaign to destroy Afghanistan’s coming opium crop - predicted to be the country’s biggest ever - having concluded that Afghan drugs now represent al-Qaeda’s principal source of income.

The US initiative, revealed to The Scotsman by a senior official in Kabul, deals a crushing blow to existing British efforts to curb Afghanistan’s opium output, which have failed to prevent an explosion in poppy production since the fall of the Taleban two years ago.

According to separate reports by the United Nations and the CIA, around 3,600 tonnes of opium resin were grown this year in an unprecedented 28 out of Afghanistan’s 32 provinces. The crop earned Afghanistan’s poppy farmers and traffickers around £2 billion - more than 50 per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP.

This year’s harvest was up on last year’s bumper poppy crop - the first since the Taleban’s fall - despite two devastating crop diseases, a government eradication campaign and British-led efforts to train local police and provide poppy farmers with alternative livelihoods - at an estimated cost of £65 million.

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i really got a kick out of the writers name and location...
"JAMES (A)STILL IN KABUL "

[Maple]

1. The US doesn't have

enough people in Afghanistan to do anything. Much less stop this.

And it isn't the funding for 'Al Qaeda' anyway.

But I suppose we should be thankful they're not out squashing bee hives....the last theory on Al Qaeda's financial sources.

[TXvote]

9. What Are You Smoking?

I know it is hard to believe , but there has been a joint US/British task force on poppy eradication in Afghanistan for 2 YEARS.

I know it must be nearly impossible to spot those bright red flowers on the desert plains of such a small country. Heck, no way could our satellites spot them. And with all that intelligence on the ground, if farmers have been growing poppies for the last 6 months, no way could special ops know.

And it takes an enormous amount of personnel to drop defoliant, not to mention planes. Just look at the large number of troops it took to drop 350 tons of defoliant in Columbia last year (it was really 24 soldiers). So, no wonder the US is only trying to "control" this BUMPER crop AFTER it has been harvested. Just makes sense, doesn't it?

I guess, if one was a conspiracy theorist, you might believe the US/Brits could be profiting from turning the other way during the growing/ harvesting/ shipping season. I mean, who in their right mind would believe after Iran Contra that the US CIA would take over a country, allow poppy production, and possible profit from billions of dollars in profits while simulateously flooding the world with historically unprecedented high grade cheap drugs? Clearly America would never stand for that.

Ok, thanks for letting me vent a week's worth of sarcasm. Truth is, I think we now have our own personal ME candy store to fund the never ending war on terror and this pains me to no end. Fuckers. And all this pretending to care is just justification for confiscating all the money after the sale.

Anyway, don't be fooled. OK?

Peace,
Teresa
www.votervirgin.com

[frank frankly]

2. this doesn't sound like the BFEE!

hmmmm...reserving judgment on this until more info.

BFEE = opium trafficking (amond other things)

[Bozola]

3. Sure it does.

The street price must be getting too low. Like, gold, diamonds, and oil, the cartels have to regulate the prices.

[frank frankly]

6. wow, thanks, bozola

didn't think of that...

yikes.

[CRK7376]

4. Saw plenty of it there

last year, along with huge fields of Hash....growing in the open, no effort to hide the stuff right beside fields of corn and carrots....Although in one province where I was working we spoke with the local Chief of Police and the Provincial Governor about the poppy fields etc....and the next week as we passed through low and behold all the plants had been harveted....Wonder where all that stuff disappeared to?

[benburch]

5. US Wages ware on Afghan Economy.

It is ALL in the drug crop now. We destroyed everything else already!

[Paschall]

8. Quite. And if I remember correctly...

...after his first payment of $43 million to the Taliban, Shrub allocated no money for crop replacement to aid Afghan farmers when the Taliban were "defeated."

The US's sudden attention to Afghanistan's drug production represents a major shift in its conduct of the war on terror. Previously, it left counter-narcotics to its European allies, chiefly Britain, 95 per cent of whose heroin derives from Afghan opium, according to Tony Blair.

"The Taleban are operating in the south-east because they have support there," said Mr {Victor} Parekh {of the International Crisis Group think tank}. "By destroying opium crops without offering any economic support, America could end up turning virtually the entire population against it."

[NashVegas]

7. Recommended Viewing: Traffik

The British version goes where Soderburg's watered-down (perhaps "cut down" would be a better phrase?) take didn't dare to - the plight of the farmers.