[Peace-discuss] Poppy production in Afghanistan

[David Green]

My understanding is that the production disappeared well  before our invasion, due to the Taliban's opposition to drugs.

"John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:  At 11:01 AM 8/15/2007, David Green wrote:

  I just wanted to correct one possible problem in Roger Epperson's recent post regarding poppy production in Afghanistan:
 
Epperson wrote:
 
"The prisons of Afghanistan, like those in Colombia, Lebanon, Pakistan, and even the United States itself, will soon be filled with lower level "mules" and other bit part players, as such U.S. "drug war" assistance is unlikely to have much effect on the level of drug trafficking or on the major players involved. In fact, such work in Afghanistan has been disrupted by the ongoing war (that Blackwater also profits from), which has actually led to a vast expansion of opium production, even though the country was already the source of 90% of the world’s opium prior to the 2001 U.S. invasion. Once again, the "drug war" has proven to be a great jobs program for white males looking for a lucrative position, but a total failure as public policy. In fact, until Iraq came along, the "drug war" was the most costly lost U.S. war since Vietnam. Is it any wonder that the foremost advocates of the "drug war" are the mostly white police and prison guards who benefit from the job security
 it provides them, even as it fosters the violence of blackmarkets and acts as a price support mechanism for organized crime?"
 
This chart is posted at http://icga.blogspot.com/. Obviously, it reflects the Taliban's suppression of poppy production prior to their removal.

A pity the actual chart got removed in the process of my replying to this missive, but you can follow the link if you're interested.  

According to Wikipedia, the Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until late 2001.  Since the chart shows a low level of opium production ONLY in 2001, it would be logical to conclude that the one-year disruption of production had far more to do with our invasion of Afghanistan than with any efforts by the Taliban.  Between 1996 and 2000, when the Taliban was also in power, the levels of opium production were almost as high as they are currently.

John Wason 

       
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