Poppy Blight Hurts Farmers, but Taliban Stand to Gain (heroin, drug, Afghanistan)

[DAVID65]

Coalition commanders and Afghan officials are debating whether a mysterious blight that wiped out much of the nation's opium harvest this year will bolster or undermine the Taliban, who use the drug trade to help finance their operations. Afghanistan's poppy harvesting season just ended and, according to initial estimates by the United Nations, poppy yields shrank this year by 30% because of an unidentified plant disease; some U.S. military commanders expect a decline of as much as 50%. Afghanistan accounts for 90% of global opium production. Most of this is grown in Taliban-heavy southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. The Taliban derive a significant part of their income from the narcotics industry, both by taxing poppy farmers and by processing the raw opium into heroin and smuggling it through Pakistan. Afghan officials said they welcomed the news of the bad harvest.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000...ys_us_page_one

New headline: Taliban seeks foreign aid from US due to crop failure!

[mrhman92]

Originally Posted by DAVID65

Coalition commanders and Afghan officials are debating whether a mysterious blight that wiped out much of the nation's opium harvest this year will bolster or undermine the Taliban, who use the drug trade to help finance their operations. Afghanistan's poppy harvesting season just ended and, according to initial estimates by the United Nations, poppy yields shrank this year by 30% because of an unidentified plant disease; some U.S. military commanders expect a decline of as much as 50%. Afghanistan accounts for 90% of global opium production. Most of this is grown in Taliban-heavy southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. The Taliban derive a significant part of their income from the narcotics industry, both by taxing poppy farmers and by processing the raw opium into heroin and smuggling it through Pakistan. Afghan officials said they welcomed the news of the bad harvest.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000...ys_us_page_one

New headline: Taliban seeks foreign aid from US due to crop failure!

Buddy this would effect the president's brother big time, because he makes 90% off the opium production, so this would make the government make less money.