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Opium Production Under the Taliban

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Ant:
This is from a Feb. 22nd 2001 article in the Economist. 

Afghanistan's opium fiends
Feb 22nd 2001

JUST as some rare good news emerges from Afghanistan, where the Taliban rule by strict religious decree, they are condemned again. They were already unpopular for harbouring the world's most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, who may have masterminded bomb attacks on American targets, and for their abysmal treatment of women and non-Muslims. This week an American group, Human Rights Watch, accused the Taliban of massacring 300 men during a battle for control of a town in January. Even the sliver of good news, that the opium harvest is likely to be cut to zero this year, has been described by some outsiders as a sneaky trick to push up export prices.

Afghanistan last year produced 3,200 tons of opium, three-quarters of the world's supply. Transformed into heroin, it is exported by smugglers, mostly to Europe. Exports of the stuff, along with the smuggling-out of refugees, have long been the only profitable industry in the country. But after years of lobbying by the United Nations and the imposition of sanctions, farmers have been banned from growing the poppy flower. The Taliban issued a fatwa in July forbidding the crop as ungodly, with a warning to young Afghans against addiction to opium.

Although it is easily the most profitable crop for desperately poor and indebted farmers, and though the Taliban raise revenue by taxing the trade, that edict has been strictly enforced. Sandro Tuchi of the UN Drug Control Programme said this week that a survey of Helmand and Nangarhar, two fertile districts which produced 86% of Afghanistan's opium last year, revealed just 25 hectares (about 60 acres) of poppy bushes and "no systematic poppy cultivation". Farmers have opted for wheat instead; just as well, given that the country is in its worst drought for 30 years, a threat to areas holding 8m-12m people.

But opium prices have shot up, says Mr Tuchi. A kilo bought at the place of production last July would cost $35-40. This year it fetches $200-350, depending where you buy it. Higher prices for heroin in Europe are likely to follow, even if the Taliban sell opium from their stockpiles in the far north and south of the country. That is possible only for a few months, because opium soon dries and becomes too hard for simple conversion into heroin. Such high prices could quickly tempt farmers and the Taliban to return to their old ways and reap handsome profits.

If they stick to last year's fatwa, the change should be welcomed with "cautious optimism", suggests the UN. But the many other bones of contention between the outside world and the Taliban mean that international recognition of the Islamists as Afghanistan's government is still a long way off. This month the Taliban's informal "embassy to the UN", in a scruffy quarter of New York, was ordered to be closed by the American authorities. In retaliation, the UN was told to shut its political office in Kabul, the Afghan capital. No peace pipes yet.

http://www.economist.com/research/backgrounders/displaystory.cfm?Story_ID=S%26%28H%28%2DQA%27%24%0A

You can judge it anyways you like, but opium production was cut under the taliban, and then surged post-US invasion.  Now, personally, I blame Bush and Co. for not paying attention to this issue post-invasion.  Terrorism and the Drug Trade are closely, so when you say your fighting a War on Terror, but your ignoring a massive drug market in a country you just invaded, your not being entirely cnadid when you say your fighting a effective War on Terror.   To pass the blame onto the Afghan government, and say, well they are in charge now is not exactly fair either.  Either way, if Bush and Co. was really concerned with terrorism, they would be concerned with the drug trade as well, but it appears as if they are not.

*Jamal*:

--- Quote from: Ant on November 19, 2004, 08:09:04 AM ---Now, personally, I blame Bush and Co.

--- End quote ---
Listen, I dislike Bush, but you're just blindly making stupid remarks now. This has less to do with Bush than it does with our entire fuckin foreign policy. Read about our foreign policy of the last 50 years, and you'll see what I mean. Opium production was staggering during the Clinton years as well. Our country doesn't give a shit...  the amount it spends to fight the drug trade is minimal compared to the amount it makes off of it...

acbaylove:
^ Now you understand it? Coming from a Bush hater like you. Out.

*Jamal*:

--- Quote from: Antonio on November 19, 2004, 08:14:52 AM ---^ Now you understand it? Coming from a Bush hater like you. Out.

--- End quote ---

Come again.. this time in English..

Now understanding what? LOL seriously, when your English isn't that good, you have to try to clarify what you're saying... you can't just be like "now u understanding it? out"

acbaylove:
LOL i was talking to Ant!
Let me try it again (LOL! HELP!!): "Ant, now that even Jamal, a Bush hater, is writing the same things i did, do you understand i wasnt just "hating on Bush"? BETTER? ;D

Shit, you're worse than my ex english teacher. At least she had a nice ass!

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