Afghan drug trade may derail American efforts to rebuild nation

[0rganism]

June 19, 2004, 8:33PM
Afghan drug trade may derail American efforts to rebuild nation

By JOHN OTIS
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

SHABASKHEIL, Afghanistan -- Slicing down rows of red and white flowers with sickles, an army of Afghan laborers laid waste to 25 acres of opium poppies in 90 minutes.

That was the easy part. Deploying the low-tech drug warriors to poppy fields safe enough to destroy took three days.

When the eight-bus convoy of eradicators first hit the road, a homemade bomb exploded along the route. No one was hurt, but as the workers regrouped the next day, a rocket landed 100 yards short of their rural bivouac. Rattled by the attacks, the men turned their attention to a smaller poppy crop closer to their base camp.
...
Two-and-a-half years after a U.S.-led war ousted the Taliban regime, poppies -- the raw material for heroin -- are appearing all over Afghanistan. Many experts warn that the booming drug trade could derail American efforts to rebuild the nation and roll back terrorism.

"Drugs could destroy the stability of the country and the legitimacy of the Afghan government," said Antonio Maria Costa, who heads the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. "It is a national security threat."
...
more at http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2636163

[ze_dscherman]

1. Not only U.S.

What irks me is that this article just mentions "Americans". The U.S. is NOT America. More than 5000 soldiers from other nations have been deployed to Afghanistan. Also, the efforts to rebuild Afghanistan - be it money or aid workers - come from many countries, not only the U.S.

Not a single word about this in the article.

[whistle]

2. Has heroin trade increased here in the U.S. since our troops...

..have invaded and over threw Taliban authorities in the country? This statement from the article is disturbing:

"Most Afghan opium used to be converted to heroin in laboratories in Pakistan, Turkey and elsewhere. Now, most Afghan traffickers import precursor chemicals and run their own labs."

Import precursor chemicals and run their own labs. Could that be due the the technical and import business assistance that American advisers are providing to the Afghans? Just a question and this is why:

http://theunjustmedia.com/Taliban/The%20Spoils%20of%20War%20Afghanistan's%20Multibillion%20Dollar%20Heroin%20Trade.htm

[bemildred]

3. Take a look at Colombia if you want to see the results of

western "anti-drug" efforts. They would do far better to
decriminalize and medicalize treatment at home rather than
dumping more money down a rathole in 3rd world countries with
no better way to earn hard currency.