U.N.: Afghanistan Becoming 'Narco-State'

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Nov. 18, 2004

U.N.: Afghanistan Becoming 'Narco-State'

PAUL GEITNER
Associated Press


BRUSSELS, Belgium - Afghanistan is on its way to becoming a "narco-state" and U.S. and NATO-led forces in the country should get involved in fighting the drug trade as well as terrorists, according to a U.N. report released Thursday.

"It would be an historical error to abandon Afghanistan to opium, right after we reclaimed it from the Taliban and al-Qaida," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

The agency found that this year's cultivation of opium - the raw material for heroin - was up by nearly two-thirds. Bad weather and disease kept production from setting a new record, although it still accounted for 87 percent of world supply, up from 76 percent in 2003.

The illegal trade is booming despite political progress in the country, including the first presidential election, and local drug control efforts directed by British military advisers. Opium is now the "main engine of economic growth and the strongest bond among previously quarrelsome peoples," according to the report. It valued the trade at $2.8 billion, or more than 60 percent of Afghanistan's 2003 gross domestic product.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/10212564.htm
(Free registration is required)

[UL_Approved]

1. Just like 1989

This sounds EXACTLY like 1989 when the U.S. abandoned Afghanistan after they drove the Russians out. This was just a political ploy on behalf of our country. It is truly sad to see that we learned NOTHING from our past experiences over there.

[saigon68]

2. Hey, lets light up a "joint" and celebrate

Ever heard of the CIA in Laos ? Ever hear of Air America?

Redux 2004

[teryang]

3. Taliban defeated- American dope supply restored

Thank god for international trade.

[saigon68]

4. So right TY

My goodness where would we be without the free flow of Commerce ?

[corporatemedia]

5. yeah, i'm listening to AirAmerica on the web right now

[Bridget Burke]

7. Alas, apparently opium is more profitable.

Too bad "alternate crops" aren't encouraged so we could go back to the good old days of Afghani hashish.

[jjanpundt]

10. As I understand it the major reason for growing poppies

is that the plants require little maintenance and can grow anywhere. The regular farmland, what little there is of it, is landmined to hell and the patches that are cleared don't have irrigation and crops whither. Really pathetic. Why can't we teach alternate farming methods? Or clear the damn landmines and help the Afghans figure out an irrigation system? Or maybe work with them for a combination of land/hydroponic system. Give them an alternative to growing poppy and see what happens.

I don't know, I'm just dismayed that we keep doing the same thing over and over and never learn from history. I don't know whether to scream or weep.

[Minstrel Boy]

6. Mission accomplished!

How thick and blind must people be not to see this?

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Didn't Bush claim that Afghanistan

was a huge success? No wonder he wanted to get rid of the Taliban, they were bad for business.

[meganmonkey]

9. So glad the junk is cheap again!

It was really stretching my junkie friends' budget the last few years. :eyes:

[Zorra]

11. Heroin: The Bu$h Legacy

Lyrics by Lou Reed

I don’t know just where I’m going
But I’m goin’ to try for the kingdom if I can
’cause it makes me feel like I’m a man
When I put a spike into my vein
Then I tell you things aren’t quite the same

When I’m rushing on my run
And I feel just like jesus’ son
And I guess I just don’t know
And I guess that I just don’t know

I have made very big decision
I’m goin’ to try to nullify my life
’cause when the blood begins to flow
When it shoots up the dropper’s neck
When I’m closing in on death

You can’t help me not you guys
All you sweet girls with all your sweet talk
You can all go take a walk
And I guess I just don’t know
And I guess I just don’t know

I wish that I was born a thousand years ago
I wish that I’d sailed the darkened seas
On a great big clipper ship
Going from this land here to that
I put on a sailor’s suit and cap

Away from the big city
Where a man cannot be free
Of all the evils in this town
And of himself and those around
Oh, and I guess I just don’t know
Oh, and I guess I just don’t know

Heroin, be the death of me
Heroin, it’s my wife and it’s my life
Because a mainer to my vein
Leads to a center in my head
And then I’m better off than dead

When the smack begins to flow
Then I really don’t care anymore
About all the jim-jims in this town
And everybody putting everybody else down
And all of the politicians makin’ crazy sounds
All the dead bodies piled up in mounds, yeah

Wow, that heroin is in my blood
And the blood is in my head
Yeah, the god’s good as dead
Ooohhh, God that I’m not aware
I just don’t care
And I guess I just don’t know
And I guess I just don’t know

A big thanks to all the Bu$h/Cheney supporters that helped bring more heroin to America and destroy more lives. You guys are the best!

[tlcandie]

12. Aren't they going to fly those ridiculous planes over there

and drop all that poison on the fields, water, people, and land? Just like the do in South America. :shrug:

[reprobate]

13. The difference is that afganistan is a CIA project.

How will they be able to afford to overthrow all those regimes that need overthrowing so that democracy can spread thruout the world like the flu.

I don't think the cia has depended on congress for funding since the start of Vietnam. That's when they figured out that if they got the drug producers on their payroll they could generate a steady cash stream and be independant of our gov't. That's how criminals like Ollie North could accrue so much power.

America? What a quaint notion it was.

[Laughing Mirror]

14. Ends up on the streets of Europe

as if the streets of Europe didn't have other stressing problems to deal with. And who is to blame for this? In whose cap is all the heroin on the streets a feather? Who, after all, invaded Afghanistan and allowed this to happen?