Quote: Call to declare war on Afghan poppy fields........translation.......over supply = Price Drop :)

Keep in mind that the Taliban strictly enforced their ban on opium production. Presumably since the US and its allies "brought freedom to the region", many Afghans that had lost their means of livelihood, turned to opium poppy production. Same story in Laos in the American War; had to turn a blind eye to opium production to get the Shan and other hill tribes on side. Those that do not learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.

#2 Jason

The Taleban did no such thing. They enforced a ban on everyone else growing poppy's except for them and their secular opium criminals. Same guys are busy funding the Taleban now.

2. Jason, Japan

THe US government gave the Taleban 14M dollars for erradicating the poppy fields and the UN joined the US is praising the Taleban for same.

The article is quite interesting in that it is either complete propaganda against the Taleban (pro-invasion forces-the real terrorists in the area) or is devoid of journalism. Both? Mmmm....

Read the bits that mention the Taleban again. Look for balance, alternative sourses etc. Find any? Noooooooo..... Great work Scotsman, keep up the neo-con work.

THe drug trade is CASH based and money always gravitates towards wealth. THe local growers and enforcers (mostly ex-NA, by the way) do NOT get the lion's share of the profit. Who does?

Interestingly, where ever the CIA are, drugs flow! Strange, eh?

#4-Finnking-I see you're pro-taliban. Is that because you're a muslim or just a male chauvinist?

The Taleban may have received money for cosmetic 'eradication' of some poppy fields - however in other areas of Afghanistan they were busy cultivating and selling the 'product' and made many millions of dollars by doing so. The Taleban financed a war against the Soviets and now the West through opium sales - period.

I have no knowledge of what the CIA are up to but if they are involved in some murky dealings I also would not be surprised - sadly they are so incompetent that their dealings usually backfire.... American Intelligence???

The 'destroy' or 'cultivate for medicine' is an interesting debate worthy of discussion..... sadly there are no political leaders worthy of the debate!!

The Taliban largely eliminated the opium poppy problem in Afghanistan. The US and UK eliminated the Taliban, so we have the problem back. The Neo-Cons pprefer the ciminal drug barrons.
Another case of Blair and Bushes illegal aggressions and invasions going disastrously wrong. When will these two international criminals be brought to justince for the massive damage they have done?

How long would it take for a couple of budding (sorry) young bio-chemists to develop some kind of little bug that would take the sting out of the opium in the poppy without changing anything else,so that no one could tell if the crop was any good until it was processed and sold? I'm thinking that might take a month or so, about the same as a bug to take the punch out of the coca plant and the marijuana plant. That a solution this simple and guaranteed effective has not occurred tells me that somebody is making way too much money.

The Yanks and brits were quite happy when the Afghans uised the proceeds of narcotics to fund the war against the Soviet army! I suspect any attempt to destroy the cultivation of the poppy crops will result in yet more confrontation with the Taleban and there is the possibility of the confrontation escalating and sucking in yet more troops. I doubt that this will happen after all our troops are over there protecting and securing oil pipeline routes not to destroy poppies.

War on Drugs!? Don't make me laugh. It's as phunny as The War on Terror. Totally bogus games both. Scams, schemes. A world crawling with ignorant suckers.

anybody who didnt hear the Radio 4 play on |friday Poppy seeds should listen again, it's about this exact dilemma and very well written and researched, best play for months

The occupation of Afghanistan by NATO is going well. Opium production is up, the demand is going up and the price is going down. Drugs are cheaply available to all the members of NATO now, and recruitment of children as consumers is well up. Business is good!

Unfortunately, it is not safe for the gas pipeline and possible oil pipelines to be built through Afghanistan yet, from the Caspian Basin to the Indian Ocean. For the time being Russia and China are providing the supply and demand with a virtual pipeline (swaps) through Iran, but NATO wants to stop this.

Also, it is useful to have a garrison in Afghanistan for possible future imperial adventures in Iran and Pakistan.

The New Great Game continues.

Legalise all drugs,tax them and control quality and quantity and use the enormous profits to help addicts.

Strange how by adding 'war on' at the start of a problem automatically means that policies not to remedy, but to make the problem worse, are implemented.

I think it would be a good idea to buy up all the opium crop. Certainly this would benefit Scotland as we are one of the few countrys allowed to process it into diamorphine which is required for medicanal pain killing all over the world. It would be extremely benficial for Edinburgh by creating many new skilled jobs as there is already the production capabilities here.

#3 you are wrong, #4 time for bed i think

#7 and other idiots who think the taleban eliminated poppy fields are living in cloud cuckoo land!! they controlled the poppy fields and eliminated those of the 'competition'. Islamic hypocricy at work again

The machinations of our Uk Government know no bounds. We are told Heroin sales in Scotland comes
from Afghanistan. The Customs staff to combat this
drug war have been reduced.
Afghan MPs are speaking out against the hypocracy
of the 'Foreign' invaders; corruption they say is rife.
Civilians are being bombed by NATO and American planes / raids on innocent peoples houses are exacerbating the problem.
MP Hasham Watanwall for Uruzagan Province says
people are joining the Taliban because they have no
option. The Taliban want a regularised Legal Opium
Market organised. The Taliban are against ILLegal
Opium Trade. The UK Government will not allow a
Legal Opium Market. How many Scots troops must
die in a needless war. History says we will lose in the end.
Tevie Irvine Town

MI6 and CIA are the main reason drug production is so high, they are the ones who sell most of it.

The occupation forces in Afghanistan are supporting the drug trade, which brings between 120 and 194 billion dollars of revenues to organized crime, intelligence agencies and Western financial institutions. ( I can smell the Rothschilds and Rockerfellers a mile off)
The Golden Crescent drug trade, launched by the CIA in the early 1980s, continues to be protected by US intelligence, in liason with NATO occupation forces and the British military. In recent developments, British occupation forces have promoted opium cultivation through paid radio advertisements.
While the controversial opium ads have been casually dismissed as an unfortunate mistake, there are indications that the opium economy is being promoted at the political level (including the British government of Tony Blair).
The Western media in chorus blame the Taliban and the warlords. Western officials are said to believe that "the trade is controlled by 25 smugglers including three government ministers.
Yet in a bitter irony, US military presence has served to restore rather than eradicate the drug trade, which has increased 21 fold since the 2001 Us-led invasion.
What the media reports fail to acknowledge is that the Taliban government was instrumental in 2000-2001 in implementing a successful drug eradication program, with the support and collaboration of the UN.
Implemented in 2000-2001, the Taliban's drug eradication program led to a 94 percent decline in opium cultivation. In 2001, according to UN figures, opium production had fallen to 185 tons. Immediately following the October 2001 US led invasion, production increased dramatically, regaining its historical levels.

The Senlis Council, an international think tank specialising in security and policy issues on contract to NATO is proposing the development of licit opium exports in Afghanistan, with a view to promoting the production of pharmaceutical pain-killers, such as morphine and codeine. According

i dont see why we just cant eliminate the drugs
here and they can grow as much of it as they want..
they'll be no gangs a junkies hinging around here to consume it........

oh i forgot we live in a softly soflty PC society
where the politicians are scared to say 'boo'
never mind have a war on drugs

<7. BK, Cyberspace
The Taliban largely eliminated the opium poppy problem in Afghanistan. The US and UK eliminated the Taliban, so we have the problem back. The Neo-Cons pprefer the ciminal drug barrons.>

The Taliban has not been eliminated, and most certainly not by the UK. As much as I hate to give the Taliban credit for anything, they did in fact halt opium production in Afghanistan. What is responsible for poor people growing poppies is the demand for the product.

Puppy farming is an awful business and one which the nato forces should rightly be involved in fighting.But to agrre to any kind of agent orange spraying is ridiculous and only going to lead to years of problems for the poor farmers on the ground.

Not to mention all those poor puppies that will suffer!

Chairman gordon- so what your saying is that everything green in Afghanistan should be wiped out, forcing the populace to starve, in order to prevent poppy production? Methinks you have lost the plot.

26 They're not eating the poppies Guthrie.

Plow the fields and sow them with salt.

As several have pointed out it would be pretty easy tyo disrupt/stop opium cultivation using agent orange, modified plant virus etc (but enough of the frankenscience). So why dont the allies or Afghanis do this ?, is it becuase they all make a substancial living or profit from the trade. Western Govt's have had within their power to practically stop all illegal cultivation but haven't why not ?.
The taliban severely restricted opium growing with just enough to service the morphine & diamorphine (which is in short supply not due to lack of opium but processing capabilites & the US's strange DEA which claims diamorphine (heroin) has limited medical value hence no large production capabilities) Industry.
The claims that a lot of the black ops funding for the CIA & MI6 etc is possibly true as you only have to look at production figures for opium to see they quickly rose after allied control.

Dox- its called genocide. We try and avoid doing that these days.

HERE is 9 minutes of enlightenment :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYOVQezWaCY

'True Lies' by Taalam Acey :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unntwxaF_LQ

When the Smoke Clearz :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTPNwkEjD7Y&NR=1

5. American, USA

"#4-Finnking-I see you're pro-taliban. Is that because you're a muslim or just a male chauvinist?"

No, just more aware, better read and obviously better educated than you are;considering your remark.

Now answer this: Where was OBL when the US government was giving the Taleban 14million for their sterling work in eradicating the poppy? Where was numero uno terrorist when the Taleban were guests of the US government? Where did the 100 000 dollars sent to Atta come from: a) Saudi? b)Afghanistan? or c) India? What government was entertaining the head of the Indian secret service on Sept. 11? As OBL is a saud, do you think it right and proper that the Bush clan should have been helped by Bin Laden family money?

BTW: if you are so against chauvinism, I assume you are writing complaints about the Saudi treatment of women, the Kuwaiti treatment of women and every strip bar in the States. Good on you.

23. SweetMike, The Land of The Free.

"What is responsible for poor people growing poppies is the demand for the product."

1. In the "Land of the Free" (sic), surely the maxim of supply and demand is key?
2. If your concern is that opiates kill folk and therefore should be exempt from the free market ideology, surely the same applies to weapons?
3. If you are not concerned, why shouldn't they sell opium to the world in greater amounts?

Does anyone remember when heroin production was used as propaganda against the Soviet occupation? Guess now the imperial boot's on the other foot!

34. Finnking, Finland, if your posts are an indicator, I would say you are enjoying your share.

You don't make Heroin from Poppy seeds cretin.

Why can't they declare war on the dendelions in my backyard?

41. Chairman Gordon

Firsthand knowledge is hardly a pre requisite for a grasp of general knowledge. However after presenting your ignorance to one and all, you should appreciate first know a little of what you are posting about when presenting your opinion in a public forum. It may help mask the more clueless aspects of your bizarre drivel.

Aaagghhh...skewered again with another rapier like thrust from your superior intellect.

This article was based on the AP article, "U.S., NATO stepping up war on drugs". This article did not accurately portray the various groups in Afghanistan profiting from the heroin trade. The Taliban was singled out in an effort to justify the use of federal drug control policy funds for military operations in an increasingly unpopular war.

Afghanistan became a major heroin producer in the early 1980s as a result of US financial and logistical support to guerilla groups organized to fight the Soviet occupation. Many of these groups openly engaged in manufacturing heroin, and used supply lines that were created and protected by the US Government and allies to distribute it.

Heroin trafficking in Afghanistan decreased during the Taliban’s time in power due to a ban that was ordered on poppy cultivation. It was not until the 2001 U.S. invasion, and renewed financial and logistical support to guerilla groups openly involved in the drug trade, that Afghanistan emerged as the leading source of heroin for the international market.

1/3 of all opium and heroin trafficked out of Afghanistan still passes through the northern provinces that are controlled by former leaders of the Northern Alliance. In April 2007, Afghan officials reprimanded the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for broadcasting radio announcements in the Helmand province, cited as the source of Taliban controlled poppy fields, that stated ISAF and Afghan National Army (ANA) forces condoned poppy cultivation.

If the U.S. government truly wants to put an end to the heroin trade in Afghanistan it will stop using U.S. tax dollars to protect and promote it. If our communities truly want to see an end to the devastation caused by the domestic heroin trade, we need to pressure our government to do so.

Sincerely,

The Information Collective
www.infocollective.org

46. The Information Collective

Thanks for setting the record straight. Is is good to see sense coming out of the USA for a change.

46. The Information Collective, MA

Thank you and welcome.

The rug trade is a CASH business. I want to know where the cash goes. Wealth always gravitates towards the biggest mass.

Okay, the 'rug' trade is pretty grim too! (sorry!)

46. The Information Collective

THANK YOU

Information Liberation