Buzzby

U-N survey finds surge in opium cultivation in Afghanistan

BRUSSELS, Belgium The U-N says heroin is big business in Afghanistan, and is calling on the United States and NATO to wage war on drug traffickers.

A U-N spokesman says fighting narcotics is the same as fighting terrorism. Just how it's done is under dispute.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says fighting the drug business is his top priority. But he objects to the U-S plan to use crop dusters to spray poppy fields because of the risk to villagers.

NATO balks at committing troops to a drug war.

Afghanistan accounts for 87 percent of the world's opium, the raw material for heroin.

(BuzzNote: The last I heard from Mr. Bush, Afghanistan was the bright and shining success story of the War on Terror. )

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HappyMan

The goal of the Afghanistan campaign was to remove the Taliban from power and prevent the country from being used as a staging ground for terrorism. Opium production was not part of the war goals.

If it a tough choice, Taliban or Opium, Taliban or Opium, Opium, Taliban....mmmmm I will take Opium over the Taliban anyday!

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Higher Logic

Funny, I remember reports talking about trying to cut down the opium production, so I do believe the War on Terror, which is linked very closely with the War on Drugs (because the bud you smoke funds Taliban leaders boys and girls) has a lot to do with opium.

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S2

The growers need an alternate crop-- we cant just take away their only source of income and not expect serious repurcussions. We pay farmers not to grow crops in the US in order to protect crop prices- seems like somehitng simlar could be done there during a transition to a marketable and/or edible alternate crop

Hiz Highness

I'm going to have to disagree on principle. I'd like to see American citizens have their health care needs met before we start subsidizing Afghani farmers.

It's not as if we don't have legitimate uses for opiates. Perhaps there's some way to get the pharmaceutical companies to buy their opium from Afghanistan. If the companies will pay the farmers a decent wage, they won't need to turn to the black market to make their cash.

-HH

HappyMan

The problem is the Afghanistan's civil infrustructure.....it is very bad. The shipping cost of getting produce out of there would price it above market prices set by more reasonable places.

S2

yeah, a legitimate market for the opium is a good idea too, but I bet more is produced than can be used for legit purposes. I read an interesting article about genetic engineering that creates poppies that produce other pharmaceuticals that is being explored.

Afghanistan can place Tarriffs on imported produce until their infrastructure allows better transport and therefore pricing. they cant just eradicate the crops or the warlords will raise hell.

As far as Americans getting their health needs met--whatever. It's an issue blown all out of proportion to reality IMO. On what can federal dollars be spent before "American's health needs are met" Roads? Military defense?, Stem Cell research?

MickityMike

No situation is perfect, and Afghanistan certainly isn't. But even with the booming opium trade (which is completely fine with me as it pumps much needed money into that country - yet another unintended by-product of the Drug War: a black market driven by the incredible incentive of a super-inflated market structure), we just witnessed democratic elections in . . . Afghanistan.

This is an historic decade of absolutely awesome proportions. And yes, the birth of liberal government in a land known until very recently for only it’s brutal oppression is definitely something to be celebrated and extremely proud of.

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Buzzby

It is estimated that the farmers who grow the poppies receive 0.5% of the proceeds of selling the raw opium. The rest goes to a small coterie of warlords. Do they spend this money in Afghanistan? How could they? There's nothing there that anyone wants other than the opium.


The freely elected Karzai government is a government in name only. Most of the country outside of Kabul is controlled by warlords who ignore whatever the central government demands. The US put on a show of establishing a democracy in Afghanistan, an empty show. Outside of a couple of urban areas the lives of the people have not changed very much at all. Anyone who buys the US propaganda is wearing blinders.

MickityMike

Have you a better way for these farmers to make money? Even if the percentage is low, it’s all they’ve got. Until something else is introduced that can significantly offset the opium profits, they’ll keep growing it. Even with these profits apparently going to warlords, this is still generating capital for their economy. From this standpoint, it doesn’t really matter what it’s spent on, as long as it’s spent.

Again, no situation is perfect, and Afghanistan surely isn’t. But why dismiss so readily and so haughtily the birth of democracy in a land that's never seen it? It’ll take decades, probably at least a generation for democratic government to flourish. But the “shining success” is the fact that the process has even begun.

How far along on the road to liberal government and the end of a particularly brutal brand of totalitarianism would the Afghanis be if not for the US?