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I would hope that they are but here is why I look at this with a jaundiced eye. Why target the drug labs as opposed to the drug fields?
Poppy fields are easy to find. There is no mistaking a poppy field like there is for a lab.
You want to off the means of production your rival has, not the raw materials used to produce what is useful to you or will be. This is going to produce a surplus and the price of opium is going to go down. For the middle man. That's probably the people we installed in Afghanistan.
in 2001 the Taliban almost eradicated the poppy fields and we were helping. Then America stepped in and thought it would be a good idea to get the workers who benefitted from those fields on their side and thus protected those fields with troops. Production went way up.
Team America F yea!
We've spent billions doing it.
$8 billion was spent failing to "eradicate" the Afghan opium trade.
Afghan farmers were producing more opium "now then they did during the Taliban years." In fact, the U.S. spent $43 million in 2001 in support of the Taliban's poppy eradication efforts, just six months before 9/11 and seven months before the start of the U.S. war in Afghanistan that toppled the theocratic regime.
Afghanistan opium production has increased by 3,500 percent, from 185 tons in 2001 to 6,400 in 2015, since the US-led invasion.
Last edited by Loveshiscountry; 11-24-2017 at 03:46 PM..
Not sure about the logistics of being easier. Bombing from a high altitude is easier and less risky the boots on the ground. Now it is more expensive - that I agree with.
You could as easily bomb the fields. That we are not going after the fields leads me to believe this is not a true effort.
You want to off the means of production your rival has, not the raw materials used to produce what is useful to you or will be. This is going to produce a surplus and the price of opium is going to go down. For the middle man. That's probably the people we installed in Afghanistan.
in 2001 the Taliban almost eradicated the poppy fields. Then America stepped in and thought it would be a good idea to get the workers who benefitted from those fields on their side and thus protected those fields with troops. production went way up.
Team America F yea!
History... read through the back and forth between PDX and I on the first page. Post #8 explains the shell game and how the Taliban played the UN to get money with the ban they put in place. During that time, there was a drought that was wiping out the crop, along with the income of the Taliban. So they used a phony ban to supplement their income during the drought.
History... read through the back and forth between PDX and I on the first page. Post #8 explains the shell game and how the Taliban played the UN to get money with the ban they put in place. During that time, there was a drought that was wiping out the crop, along with the income of the Taliban. So they used a phony ban to supplement their income during the drought.
So why has production gone up and why are there pictures of US troops not eradicating the fields?
Are you just saying it was a drought, the Taliban never cared and neither does America? Neither does America meaning, over $8 billion has been spent and it's growing so there really isn't much of an effort. Especially when the number is $8 billion.
Poppies are drought resistant though, but dunno to what point and how much the drought affected the crop.
Why would the Taliban process it, when they tried to eradicate it? What changed?
They weren't trying to eradicate it. The drought was doing that. They used the ban to get UN money.
If you read what I provided, 4 years earlier, they were pushing opium production. Then...
In July 2000, however, as a devastating drought entered its second year and mass starvation spread across Afghanistan, the Taliban government suddenly ordered a ban on all opium cultivation in an apparent appeal for international recognition and aid.
They weren't banning opium because they had a change of heart... they needed money that they were not getting because the drought was destroying their cash cow.
They weren't trying to eradicate it. The drought was doing that. They used the ban to get UN money.
If you read what I provided, 4 years earlier, they were pushing opium production. Then...
In July 2000, however, as a devastating drought entered its second year and mass starvation spread across Afghanistan, the Taliban government suddenly ordered a ban on all opium cultivation in an apparent appeal for international recognition and aid.
Sounds to me like it might have been a cost effective program.
So why has production gone up and why are there pictures of US troops not eradicating the fields?
Are you just saying it was a drought, the Taliban never cared and neither does America? Neither does America, as far as over $8 billion has been spent and it's growing
In 2000, they needed the money.
The pictures of the troops from my recollection were later - when we were indeed offering them help.
So during Bush/Obama - all parties were supporting opium production. I am just clarifying that the Taliban did not have a change of heart with their phony ban.
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