🚀 go-pugleaf

"No Spam" <no.spam@shaw.ca> wrote in message 
news:XhCPf.123278$sa3.119801@pd7tw1no...
> 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.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
> 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...


The more things change the more they stay the same! The Northern Alliance, 
largely the former Mujahadeen (sp?), relied on poppies to finance their 
fight against the Taliban unitl the US came along to bomb the shit out of 
Afghanistan. Now the roles have reversed.

Also there was an interesting documentary on the CBC National News last 
night. Pakistan, a good ally of the US of A is playing both sides of the 
fence by permitting the Taliban a good amount of freedom in areas along the 
Aghanistan-Pakistan border.


Glen