Afghanistan: Record Opium Crop Generates $100 Million For Anti-Government Forces

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Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
Is the OP suggesting we combine a pointless and fruitless War on Drugs with a marginally ineffective WoT? I think that combo will make politicians cream their jeans.

And why is the OP so worried about the WoD anyways?

 

DealMonkey

Lifer
Nov 25, 2001
13,136
1
0
Originally posted by: Genx87
Is the OP suggesting we combine a pointless and fruitless War on Drugs with a marginally ineffective WoT? I think that combo will make politicians cream their jeans.

And why is the OP so worried about the WoD anyways?
I think the concern is that our gov't seems so ineffectual at fighting both.
 

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
17,967
140
106
..and who's buying their goof?? I'll bet most of it is sold in the US.
 

GrGr

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2003
3,204
0
76
Originally posted by: IGBT
..and who's buying their goof?? I'll bet most of it is sold in the US.

Europe actually.

Seems about nine tenths out of all heroin sold in the UK is originally from opium crops in Afghanistan.
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
Originally posted by: JohnOfSheffield
Originally posted by: Sinsear
Originally posted by: jpeyton
Not only has Iraq distracted us from finishing the job in Afghanistan, but it has also allowed for Afghanistan to become a world leader in providing the raw materials for illicit drugs like heroin and marijuana.

Not like they werent the world leaders before we went there.

They never have been and they sure as hell are not now since their growth is supervised and collected to be redied instead of synthetic drugs.

You'd think that would lower prices, well it will, in Europe, not in the US, in the US the med comapnies happily charges you 10x what they would charge me and they get away with it.

You're welcome.
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
86
91
Originally posted by: DealMonkey
We have what? 40,000 troops with boots on the ground in Afghanistan and we can't locate and burn a bunch of opium and cannibis farms? Growing right out in the open? Pffft, how lame is that?

Maybe it has shades of the drug war in Central America during the 80's where crop dusters would be sent up on the windiest days to spray herbicides. It is a great source of untraceable money. ;)
 

BudAshes

Lifer
Jul 20, 2003
13,983
3,330
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If they would just legalize drugs we wouldn't have to worry about this bull shit.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
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The fact that they're producing so much opium is really a secondary concern.

What should be our main concern is that over 6 years after our invasion of Afghanistan, and our promise to wipe out al-Qaeda and the Taliban, we're allowing record-setting crops of opium to be grown generating over $100 million for our enemies.

Does anyone realize how much money that is over there? It took $500,000 to fund 9/11. They produce weapons and ammunition for pennies on the dollar compared to our military. $100 million could fund global terrorism for years.

I'm so glad Bush was committed to finishing the job in Afghanistan :roll:
 

Harvey

Administrator<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
35,057
67
91
This is exactly why, a few days ago, I posted that one alternative worth considering might be to pull our troops and use drones to destroy all of the poppy fields, preferably using non-toxic means. That would deprive the warlords from all sides, from the Taliban to Karzi's brother and beyond, of their primary source of income. Then, we could immediately help them by offering reconstruction aid for more benificial crops and infrastructure, all of which would cost less than fighting a logistically impossible war.

It would have the lovely side effect of saving the lives of heroin addicts and damaging the drug cartels here and around the world. :cool:
 

xj0hnx

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2007
9,262
3
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Originally posted by: Harvey
Then, we could immediately help them by offering reconstruction aid for more benificial crops and infrastructure, all of which would cost less than fighting a logistically impossible war.

More beneficial to who? Seems they've tried that route, and it failed miserably.

It would have the lovely side effect of saving the lives of heroin addicts and damaging the drug cartels here and around the world. :cool:

That's a lovely pipe dream, but as the DEA has found, nothing is going to stop addicts, and drug cartels.