Our work in Afghanistan
From
CNS News:
After 12 Yrs of U.S. Occupation, Afghanistan Sets Record for Growing Opium
After 12 years of occupation by U.S. military forces, Afghanistan set a record for growing opium poppies in 2013, according to newly released data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
�Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan reached a sobering record high in 2013,� said the UNODC. �According to the 2013 Afghanistan Opium Survey, cultivation amounted to some 209,000 hectares, outstripping the earlier record in 2007 of 193,000 hectares, and representing a 36 per cent increase over 2012.�
In fact, according to the latest worldwide data on opium-poppy cultivation, Afghanistan dedicates more land to the cultivation of opium poppies than all of the rest of the world combined.
And, of course, the proceeds from the sale of this opium are what fund terrorism. The Afghani farmers are told to grow this by the Taliban. If they refuse, their family vanishes.
We need to recognize what Russia did -- there is no winnable war in the Middle East. Back out, leave a pay-phone and a quarter and ask the surviving tribe to call us when it's over.
Posted by DaveH at December 2, 2013 8:30 PM