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**RagonaCon** · 01-07-2010, 10:18 PM

This was the news from one year ago, Telegraph.co.uk:

Britain to continue poppy eradication in Afghanistan despite US reversal
By Ben Farmer in Kabul
Published: 3:39PM BST 28 Jun 2009

Britain will continue to fund the destruction of opium fields in Afghanistan despite the United States condemning poppy eradication as a waste of money.
The British Government said destroying poppy fields remained a key deterrent to growers and one of the "seven pillars" of its anti-opium strategy in Helmand province, Just a day after Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan, said that destroying the crop only drove poor farmers to join the insurgency. (emphasis mine)

A year later we read this: From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on line July 2 2010
Kremlin 'Unhappy' With Antidrug Efforts In Afghanistan
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said has stated that…We are not happy with what the world community is doing in the antidrug war" in Afghanistan, Ivanov told delegates on June 6 at the summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Ivanov said the blame for the continued production of opium in Afghanistan and the export of the heroin made from Afghan opium rests on "those who took responsibility for ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan."

Ivanov said it's time for foreign military forces in Afghanistan -- the UN-mandated and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) -- to step up efforts to eradicate opium-poppy cultivation and heroin production.

"Next year, I think that ISAF will break the Soviet record of the duration of stay in Afghanistan," Ivanov said, claiming that during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979-1989, "the problem of narcotics practically did not exist."

One of the charges against King George III in the US Declaration of Independence was:
"He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance."

How does the small farmer whose village is dependent on poppy production feel about the multitude of NATO bureaucrats and soldiers sent out to harass the Afghan people? One year they may eradicate the fields and the next year they don't. The fat cats with connections in Kabul get rich and the little guys starve. Who are Obama and Petraeus going to listen to, and what will they do next?

01-07-2010, 10:18 PM	#1
RagonaCon Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 484 Senior Member	US Poppy Eradication Policy This was the news from one year ago, Telegraph.co.uk: Britain to continue poppy eradication in Afghanistan despite US reversal By Ben Farmer in Kabul Published: 3:39PM BST 28 Jun 2009 Britain will continue to fund the destruction of opium fields in Afghanistan despite the United States condemning poppy eradication as a waste of money. The British Government said destroying poppy fields remained a key deterrent to growers and one of the "seven pillars" of its anti-opium strategy in Helmand province, Just a day after Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan, said that destroying the crop only drove poor farmers to join the insurgency. (emphasis mine) A year later we read this: From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on line July 2 2010 Kremlin 'Unhappy' With Antidrug Efforts In Afghanistan Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said has stated that…We are not happy with what the world community is doing in the antidrug war" in Afghanistan, Ivanov told delegates on June 6 at the summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue. Ivanov said the blame for the continued production of opium in Afghanistan and the export of the heroin made from Afghan opium rests on "those who took responsibility for ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan." Ivanov said it's time for foreign military forces in Afghanistan -- the UN-mandated and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) -- to step up efforts to eradicate opium-poppy cultivation and heroin production. "Next year, I think that ISAF will break the Soviet record of the duration of stay in Afghanistan," Ivanov said, claiming that during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979-1989, "the problem of narcotics practically did not exist." One of the charges against King George III in the US Declaration of Independence was: "He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance." How does the small farmer whose village is dependent on poppy production feel about the multitude of NATO bureaucrats and soldiers sent out to harass the Afghan people? One year they may eradicate the fields and the next year they don't. The fat cats with connections in Kabul get rich and the little guys starve. Who are Obama and Petraeus going to listen to, and what will they do next?
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