U.S. official warns on Afghanistan opium ( 90% of global supply)

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060902/ap_on_re_as/afghan_drugs

U.S. official warns on Afghanistan opium

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer 33 minutes ago

KABUL, Afghanistan -
Afghanistan could be "taken down" by its booming illegal drug trade, a senior U.S. anti-narcotics official warned Saturday, ahead of the scheduled release of U.N. opium crop data expected to show a massive increase in cultivation this year.
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Doug Wankel, director of the U.S. anti-narcotics task force in Afghanistan, warned that the illicit trade in opium and heroin threatened the country's fledgling democracy, instituted after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime nearly five years ago by U.S.-led forces.

"This country could be taken down by this whole drugs problem," he told reporters in Kabul — echoing strong rhetoric voiced by Afghanistan's beleaguered President Hamid Karzai last month. "We have seen what can come from Afghanistan, if you go back to 9/11. Obviously the U.S. does not want to see that again."

"If this thing gets out of hand, you could move from a narco-economy to a narco-state. Then you have a very difficult chance for this country being able to achieve what it needs to as a democracy and a nation representing its people," he said.

Wankel described the drug trade — already estimated to account for at least 35 percent of the country's gross domestic product — as a "national security threat to Afghanistan, the region and the world.".........

[marmar]

1. Hell, the U.S. is probably running the drug trade...

to make up for the less-than-expected returns on Iraqi oil.

[leesa]

8. Well, it went from zero drugs to almost full blown business after

2001. Who do you suppose was running that trade? We were occupying the country.

[lagavulin]

12. POSIWID:

the Purpose Of a System Is What It Does...

[rodeodance]

2. says corrupt gov. officials allow it and are involved.

....The officials say militants are implicated in the drug trade, encouraging poppy cultivation and using the proceeds to help fund their insurgency. However, government officials and police, particularly at provincial and district levels, are also deeply involved in the lucrative business, they say.

[ClintonTyree]

3. Hey, the CIA has to make money somehow............

to bankroll their black-ops around the world. If we could get the CIA to stop it's drug trafficking, the "war on drugs" would be a lot closer to being won. The truth is, they don't want the "war on drugs" to be won. It's the CIA's cash cow.

[thecrow]

4. I have a question!

If Afghan opium is 90% of the world's production, then how can we escape using Afghanistan for at least part of our morphine and other opiate supply?

Where do they get all the opium to manufacture pain kiling drugs? Don't we need them even more as the war rages and people keep getting injured?

[robbob]

6. I could be wrong...

but I think a lot of "legal" opiates are synthetically manufactured.

I was thinking along the same lines; why don't we just buy out all the "illegal" drugs and find legal useful applications for them. But then the giant Pharma-corps wouldn't be sucking up all the profits, so that's a non-starter.

[Opusnone]

10. Shh, You're making Rush salivate...

Like Pavlov's dog.

[High Plains]

11. Afghan opium is almost 90% of ILLICIT production.

Opium is legally grown under license for the medicinal market in France, Australia, India, and a couple of other places.

A European think tank, the Senlis Council, has proposed licensing the Afghan crop and diverting it into the legitimate medicinal market, but no one really likes that idea. Too reasonable, I suppose.

[SpiralHawk]

5. "Mission Accomplished" - George AWOL Bush & Cronies

"Our black ops profits are WAY up." - George AWOL Bush & Dick "Five Deferments" Cheney

[leesa]

7. Well, reinstate the Taliban, they had it completeluy under control.

[oblivious]

9. They had the warlords under control too, except for the Northern Alliance.

So people lived in relative peace at least, with their families safe and homes intact.

[krispos42]

14. Taliban is reinstating itself.... n/t

[hughee99]

13. Repuke spin: the Afghan economy is booming... n/t

[krispos42]

15. This just means more money for War on Drugs

And we're gonna need new prisons, more courts, more police, and DEFINATELY more police powers! More search-and-seizure, more wiretaps, more SWAT teams, more on-the-street harassment!

And more pontificating and podium-pounding. <sigh>