Reply #4: U.S. Steps Up War on Afghan Opium

[chlamor]

My comment:More emergency funding for the warlords at the Pentagon of Power. Another in a series of 'War on Drugs'. If you're not skeptical you're not paying attention.

US steps up war on Afghan opium

Pentagon fears bumper harvest will fund militants and destabilise government

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday March 26, 2005
The Guardian

The Pentagon, frustrated by the failure of the British-led battle against opium production in Afghanistan, plans to quadruple the spending on its anti-narcotics campaign, and deploy its troops in a full-scale war on the country's drug lords.

"We are seeking to expand our role," a Pentagon spokesman told the Guardian yesterday. "We are going to try to do more."

It believes the drugs trade is a grave threat to US strategic objectives in Afghanistan, and to the government of Hamid Karzai.

The product of rising alarm at the prospect of a bumper opium crop this year, the plans envisage a greatly expanded role for the 17,000 US service personnel in Afghanistan in blocking the cultivation of and trade in opium.

The Pentagon has asked for $257m (£137.5m) emergency funding to step up the war on drugs, four times the amount it sought last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1445915,00.html