Opium flourishes once more - Afghanistan

[dArKeR]

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , SHORABAK, AFGHANISTAN
Monday, Apr 12, 2004,Page 16

Rahmatullah trudged toward his village with his donkey, as men across Afghanistan have done for centuries. But in this century, men in Jeeps and on motorbikes were passing him by.

So this year the 37-year-old father of three, speaking in front of the village mosque and its mullah, said he would join his neighbors in growing poppies to harvest Afghanistan's most lucrative cash crop, opium.

His hierarchy of dreams is all sketched out. First he will pay off some US$1,200 in debt. Then he will build a house to replace the one room he shares with his family, then buy cows for plowing.

"Then, if I get richer, I'll buy a car," he finished, eyes agleam.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/04/12/2003136422

[FeebMaster]

1. Well at least some good might come from

the invasion of Afghanistan, as long as the US doesn't decide to burn down this guy's house.

"Ideally, officials say, eradication efforts would focus on wealthy landowners growing poppies, not poor farmers. But many struggling farmers have become sharecroppers on the vast fields of the rich and would share the punishment, just as they share the profit."

[Frodo_Baggins]

2. And why should we burn anything at all?

Why not stop the WoD entirely?