July 05, 2014

What did $7 billion spent on opium eradication in Afghanistan buy? More opium.

What has the anti-opium effort in Afghanistan yielded US taxpayers?
The latest (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime) Opium Survey estimates that 209,000 hectares are under opium-poppy cultivation, an all-time high and a 36% increase from 2012.
This expansion occurred despite the goal outlined in Afghanistan’s draft National Drug Control Strategy for 2012–2016 of reducing the cultivation of poppy by 50% from its 2011 baseline of 131,000 hectares. Eighty-nine percent of the opium fields are located in nine provinces in the country’s southern and western regions... Opium cultivation has significant social, political, and economic repercussions for the country and the region. The drug trade undermines the Afghan government because it funds the insurgency, fuels corruption, and distorts the economy.     ***Read full article here***
*U.S./NATO invasion and occupation of Afghanistan a success!!!! Afghanistan's opium crop sets new records!

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