From The Washington Free Beacon:
Afghan Poppy Cultivation at ‘All-Time High’
Cultivation of the illegal poppy plant in Afghanistan has reached an “all time high” following a $7.6 billion counternarcotics campaign paid for by the United States, according to government oversight investigators.
Despite the spending to combat growth of the poppy plant, which is used to make drugs such as opium and heroin, cultivation has reached an “all time high,” especially in places once declared “poppy free,” according to new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
“After a decade of reconstruction and over $7 billion in counternarcotics efforts, poppy cultivation levels are at an all-time high,” SIGAR concluded in its report released Wednesday.
The findings have caused concern about the effectiveness of the United States’ efforts to stymie poppy production, SIGAR concluded.
The Afghans are laughing at us behind our backs. Want to stop the drug trade? Buy the crop - pay the farmers to grow the poppies and then outbid all of the other vendors. Use part of the crop for pharmaceuticals and burn the rest. You could do this for a lot less than 7 Billion of our dollars...