🚀 go-pugleaf

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/03/08/afghan-opium.html

Poppies plowed under in major Afghan drug region

Drug agents climbed aboard tractors in Afghanistan on
Wednesday to plow under fields of opium poppies as
they launched a massive campaign to shut down drug
production.

Southern Helmand province's Dishu district is a major
drug belt in the country, which is the world's largest
producer of opium and heroin.

The narcotics agents were backed up in Wednesday's
operation by about 1,000 police and soldiers.

The large security force was on hand to ward off any
retaliation from drug gangs and Taliban rebels.

The Taliban, who effectively shut down Afghanistan's
drug production before they were ousted in a U.S.-led
invasion in late 2001, have purportedly vowed to
defend the poppy farmers.

The Afghan government and United Nations are
defending the campaign to destroy poppy fields,
warning that crop production is increasing across
large areas of the country this year.

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I sometimes shake my head in amazement at the
farcical antics of the Americans, and to some extent the
so called leadership of the western democracies.

The Taliban and Afghanistan poppy farmers have
to be snickering under their beards at this gem of
a make work project.

Opium poppies happen to be self seeding weed
that not only does quite well in disturbed soil, but
doing it actually helps them spread. Of course
all of that on top of the fact the seeds can lie dormant
for months and years, and suddenly spring back
to life an fill a field in one season.

In other words these American DEA Narcs come
farmers on tractors are not only not accomplishing
much beyond a short term public relations exercise,
but are in fact likely setting the stage down the road,
be it weeks, months, or even years, for the
production of a dandy bumper crop of opium
poppies.

Of course when that dawns on them, if they're
still there, they'll no doubt start spraying chemicals
by airplanes that will not only kill off the poppies,
but the ability to grow any form of crop as well.

At that point the Taliban won't have to recruit
the local farmer population, they'll be lining up in
droves to work with them to drive everyone out
of their country once and for all.

Maybe someday the leaders of the western world
will realize that democracy doesn't flow from the
barrel of a gun - or American DEA agents on
tractors for that matter...