The article makes several statements over which I cannot help but to cast doubt:
1) "Analysts say that revenue from the drug has helped fund the Taliban insurgency."
2) "Nearly 80% of the opium grown in Afghanistan is being produced in provinces in the south, including Helmand and Kandahar, which are among the most volatile in the country.
The UN says this demonstrates that there is a clear link between insecurity and opium cultivation."
3) "The rise in production came even though the Afghan government and Nato have increased crop eradication measures by 65% and made significant seizures in recent months."
4) "Experts say the Taliban's involvement in the drugs trade ranges from direct involvement - such as providing farmers with seed, fertiliser and cash advances for their crop - to distribution and protection."
Before analyzing each one of these statements individually I would like to write a brief overview about the history of Afghanistan's opium cultivation.
Between 1979 and 1989 the country was under the domain of the Soviet Union. The local government started to lose control: warlords flourished and with it opium production, as regional commanders searched for ways to generate money to purchase weapons, according to the UN (source: UN office for the Coordination of Human Affairs website – Bitter-Sweet Harvest: Afghanistan’s New War). In reference to this time it was alleged by the Soviets on multiple occasions that American CIA agents were helping to smuggle opium out of Afghanistan, either into the West, in order to raise money for the Afghan resistance or into the Soviet Union in order to weaken it through drug addiction. According to Alfred McCoy, the CIA supported various Afghan drug lords (Source: Chossudovsy Michel "Pakistan and the global war on terrorism" and Paul DeRienzo "Interview with Alfred McCoy").
Between 1989 and 1994 the country had no stability and no centralized government. It has been a time of war and warlords.
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| Source: Wikipedia |
In November 2001 the Talibans lost control of the country as it was invaded by the US and its allies.
In December 2001, a number of prominent Afghans met in Bonn, Germany to develop a plan to reestablish the State of Afghanistan, including provisions for a new constitution and national elections. As part of that agreement, the United Kingdom (UK) was designated the lead country in addressing counter-narcotics issues in Afghanistan. Afghanistan subsequently implemented its new constitution and held national elections. On December 7, 2004, Hamid Karzai was formally sworn in as president of a democratic Afghanistan. Two of the following three growing seasons saw record levels of opium poppy cultivation (source: Graeme Smith "Portrait of the enemy").
In March 2010, NATO rejected Russian proposals for Afghan poppy spraying, citing concerns over income of Afghani people (source: Reuters). When has NATO ever been interested in the income of the Afghani people? When has NATO ever done something that was not somehow in its own interests? There have also been allegations of American and European involvement in Afghanistan's drug trafficking (source: Daily Times), bringing Russia, in 2010, to accuse the United States of supporting the opium production in Afghanistan (source: PressTV).
Before trying to draw some conclusions from this information, which already seems in discrepancy with the assertions of the BBC, I would like to share with you, and eventually analyze and compare 3 maps:
The first map (source:UN) clearly shows us how the areas with the major poppy cultivation are the south and south eastern ones and that these areas are also the most dangerous ones.... which is quite strange considering that the the US and the UK are sending thousands of their best soldiers there. Hitherto America has sent a total of 94 000 troops in Afghanistan.
The second map (source: UN office on drugs and crime), amongst other things, tells us that the provinces of Farah and Nimroz, which are under the sole occupation of the US army, are the ones that saw the largest increase in opium poppy production in the biennium 2006-2007 (I do not have sources for more recent years, but please bear in mind that the US army had been there for 5/6 years already at the time that this data was taken).
We also see from the third map (Source: International Security Assistance Force, which is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan) that the province that produces more overall opium is the one of Helmand where UK troops are.... doing what? This is the question!
This is my question: what are these troops really doing in Afghanistan? Hundreds of thousands of men and billions of dollars to hunt down Osama Bin Laden? To hunt down a man whose actual responsibility in the events of 9/11 has been widely discussed and questioned? Or have Obama and 9/11 been the pretext to invade Afghanistan? And if so, why? Vietnam and Iraq had petrol; Yugoslavia had heavy water and prime resources; Libya has petrol and its leader wanted to withdraw the gold he had deposited in England... But what is interesting in Afghanistan and why has opium production only terribly increased since the NATO invasion and particularly in the areas controlled by the UK and the US?
What can the US and the UK possibly do with Opium? Probably the same that they do with Cocaine: sell it and have black cash to finance operations that cannot appear on official balance sheets. But not only: the United States are in fact the world's largest consumers of prescription opioids and their pharmaceutical companies have an ever larger need for it and have an even higher price as India is the only country to legally produce opium for export, bringing it to monopolize the market and set the prices for it.
So what is the conclusion: regarding America's direct support in the production of Opium in Afghanistan I have no proof (except for the 81 800 images that come up if you google: "Us troops patrolling opium in Afghanistan"!); regarding America's eventual use of this opium I also have no proof. All I can do cast doubt over the assertions made by the BBC and give some elements to stimulate one's critical sense.
Finally: Is this the third Opium War?
In March 2010, NATO rejected Russian proposals for Afghan poppy spraying, citing concerns over income of Afghani people (source: Reuters). When has NATO ever been interested in the income of the Afghani people? When has NATO ever done something that was not somehow in its own interests? There have also been allegations of American and European involvement in Afghanistan's drug trafficking (source: Daily Times), bringing Russia, in 2010, to accuse the United States of supporting the opium production in Afghanistan (source: PressTV).
Before trying to draw some conclusions from this information, which already seems in discrepancy with the assertions of the BBC, I would like to share with you, and eventually analyze and compare 3 maps:
The first map (source:UN) clearly shows us how the areas with the major poppy cultivation are the south and south eastern ones and that these areas are also the most dangerous ones.... which is quite strange considering that the the US and the UK are sending thousands of their best soldiers there. Hitherto America has sent a total of 94 000 troops in Afghanistan.
This is my question: what are these troops really doing in Afghanistan? Hundreds of thousands of men and billions of dollars to hunt down Osama Bin Laden? To hunt down a man whose actual responsibility in the events of 9/11 has been widely discussed and questioned? Or have Obama and 9/11 been the pretext to invade Afghanistan? And if so, why? Vietnam and Iraq had petrol; Yugoslavia had heavy water and prime resources; Libya has petrol and its leader wanted to withdraw the gold he had deposited in England... But what is interesting in Afghanistan and why has opium production only terribly increased since the NATO invasion and particularly in the areas controlled by the UK and the US?
What can the US and the UK possibly do with Opium? Probably the same that they do with Cocaine: sell it and have black cash to finance operations that cannot appear on official balance sheets. But not only: the United States are in fact the world's largest consumers of prescription opioids and their pharmaceutical companies have an ever larger need for it and have an even higher price as India is the only country to legally produce opium for export, bringing it to monopolize the market and set the prices for it.
Finally: Is this the third Opium War?
the research seems pretty good. compliment
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