An Afghan Quandary for the U.S.

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=47441

Los Angeles Times
01/02/2005
Soni Efron
WASHINGTON - With a bumper poppy harvest expected in Afghanistan in the new year, a debate has erupted within the Bush administration on whether the United States should push for the crop's destruction despite the objections of the Afghan government.

Some U.S. officials advocate aerial spraying to reduce the opium crop, warning that if harvested, it could flood the West with heroin, fill the coffers of Taliban fighters and fund terrorist activity in Afghanistan and beyond. They estimate the haul could earn Afghan warlords up to $7 billion, up from a record $2.2 billion in 2004.

With the January planting season approaching, the State Department is asking Congress to earmark nearly $780 million in aid to Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, for a counter-narcotics effort that would include $152 million for aerial eradication. snip

The dispute underscores a vexing dilemma for the United States. Having ousted the Taliban from power, the Bush administration now finds that its three main policy objectives in the strategically important country - counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics and political stability - appear to be contradictory. snip

"You tell them, 'You're voting for a new democratic country,' while their government is allowing foreigners to come in and destroy their livelihood?" said Barnett R. Rubin, who was an advisor to the U.N. in Afghanistan in 2001. "And if you try to destroy it and have the economy decline by 10%, 20%, 40% in one year, what will the result be? The result will be armed revolt."

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[MadHound]

1. Oh please, all this Bushco public handwringing about the poppy crop

Is just so much BS cover for this misadministration. They're not going to destroy the crop, more likely, they'll say they're destroying it, sieze it, and keep it all for their own use or sale.

[Tempest]

2. Two years ago Bush refused to eradicate the crop because of the war

This year he's using the elections excuse.

What will next year's excuse be?