Afghanistan ‘set for record opium harvest’

[RedEarth]

Source: The Financial Times Limited 2007

This year’s opium harvest in Afghanistan is projected to reach a record high, up 34 per cent on 2006, with Helmand province “single-handedly” becoming the world’s largest source of illicit drugs, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said on Monday.

Better yields have combined with a 17 per cent in­crease in land under cultivation to undermine poppy eradication efforts and produce a record harvest of 8,200 tonnes. With the increase in opium production, Afghanistan now accounts for 92 per cent of global production. The area of opium cultivation in Afghanistan is more than the combined total coca cultivation area in Latin America, the UNODC stated.

Most of the increased production is concentrated in unstable southern provinces that together account for 80 per cent of cultivation. The largest increase has been in the volatile province of Helmand, where British troops are fighting a tough battle against the insurgency. The number of northern and central provinces free of opium more than doubled, from six to 13. In Balkh, a northern province bordering Uzbekistan, opium cultivation has been brought down to zero from 7,200 hectares last year.

Referring to divergent trends in the north and south, Antonio Maria Costa, UNODC executive director, said poverty could not be used as an excuse since the south had some of the most fertile land, and provinces in the centre and north, where per capita income is half that of the south, are opium-free


Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae209558-54a2-11dc-890c-0000779fd2ac.html

[groovedaddy]

1. I'm sure the bush-a-nostra family is proud of these numbers

Helping the illicit drug trade is a family tradition!

[Tyler Durden]

2. Jesus tap dancing Christ-on-a-crutch, did we do GOOD or WHAT?

We do suck the big skippy, don't we?

[ohio2007]

3. a staggering 45 per cent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand

AFGHANISTAN produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 per cent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand province,


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1d8_1188145913
Taliban are profiting in their home province but where is the bulk of this smuggled product finding its market?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=27e_1187423084

If the quantity produced increased, wouldn't the price drop low enough to get more of those who can least aford it addicted ?

[JVS]

4. I keep hearing record opium harvest this and record opium harvest that...

I'll believe it when I see the local college students all fucked up to the gills on opium, smack, and morphine.

[ohio2007]

5. Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 per cent of the world's heroin supply

article excerpt;


snip
Also Sunday, Afghan and coalition troops destroyed a heroin laboratory after battling Taliban fighters guarding the facility, a separate coalition statement said. The lab in Helmand contained large amounts of opium-processing chemicals as well as weapons, insurgent propaganda and explosive materials, it said.

Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 per cent of the world's heroin supply, and a significant portion of the profits from the US$3.1 billion trade are thought to flow to Taliban fighters who tax and protect poppy farmers and drug runners.


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=cp_favc9tpd3141&show_article=1

The only cash crop that a farmer in the south can afford to raise is opium which been known for years to be an uphill battle although the opium being grown outside of the Taliban areas has declined, it is flourishing in the poverty stricken south

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=294_1188266317

then there is always the under reported stories;

US Troops invade Pakistan

US-led and Afghan troops have struck Taliban posts inside Pakistan, but Islamabad says the military strike took place without its permission.

New clashes left more than 30 rebels dead and there were claims of civilian casualties.
The US-led coalition said it received the go-ahead from Pakistan to strike across the border on Saturday, but this was rejected by the chief military spokesman in Islamabad.

Afghan and coalition forces used mortars and artillery fire to destroy insurgent attacking positions on both sides of the border after a military post in Afghanistan came under attack, the coalition said in a statement.


snip

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c9c_1188204962
imo, its all drug related

[sofa king]

6. See? Who says the U.S. federal government can't get things done?

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney09082004.html