[RagonaCon]

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?

[beloveds]

Well, we're not teaching how to grow anything productive, so I can see how razing their only source of income could cause some angst.

On the other hand, it fracking opium.

[12Cickprior]

Poppy growing was the lowest under the Taliban.

[didrexx]

Poppy growing was the lowest under the Taliban.

That's a great stat.

It's a shame the Taliban also had an extensive record of repression, human rights abuses, and terrorism sponsorship.

There was also the small matter of them providing sanctuary and support to al Qaeda prior to 9/11 and failing to take any reasonable criminal or investigative action against that organization or Osama bin Laden following the attacks.

Don't get me wrong, lowering opium production by publicly executing the poppy farmers was certainly a step in the right direction (), but to hold the Taliban up as an exemplar of anything other than despotism and failed governance is ridiculous.

[ëàìèíàò]

That's a great stat.

It's a shame the Taliban also had an extensive record of repression, human rights abuses, and terrorism sponsorship.

There was also the small matter of them providing sanctuary and support to al Qaeda prior to 9/11 and failing to take any reasonable criminal or investigative action against that organization or Osama bin Laden following the attacks.

Don't get me wrong, lowering opium production by publicly executing the poppy farmers was certainly a step in the right direction (), but to hold the Taliban up as an exemplar of anything other than despotism and failed governance is ridiculous.

All that and they kept production down to keep the cost up and better control the flow.

[Seeseeskeva]

I seriously doubt that we will ever be able to wipe out opium poppy production in that area.

[EmxATW5m]

Why don't we just buy it ?

seriously, opium and it's many deriviatives are widely used as painkillers to this day, morphine for eample. Since the stuff is probably going to be be grown anyway why not just put it on a legal footing and buy the bloody stuff. What we don't use we can burn. After all we've got to buy it from somewhere....

[mtautomoscow]

There was also the small matter of them providing sanctuary and support to al Qaeda prior to 9/11 and failing to take any reasonable criminal or investigative action against that organization or Osama bin Laden following the attacks.

Indeed!

Why did Washington refuse an offer by Taliban government to hand B-L over if US can present a proof he was behind 9/11? Was it because Washington had no proof of A-Q involvement?

Btw, OBL worked for CIA.

[Metrujectiktus]

Indeed!

Why did Washington refuse an offer by Taliban government to hand B-L over if US can present a proof he was behind 9/11? Was it because Washington had no proof of A-Q involvement?

Btw, OBL worked for CIA.

You're not telling me anything I haven't heard before.

But I don't go in for conspiracy theories and all that. bin Laden worked for the CIA a looooong time ago. And I don't have a great deal of faith in the he-said, he-said coming out of the Taliban camp - as I've said, they were a despotic menace.

When a guy is on Arab television repeatedly saying "I hate America, I was behind 9/11, kill all Americans wherever you find them", and when darn near everyone he associates with has pretty much the same thing to say, all the who-done-it scenarios kinda lose their luster.

There's no sinister CIA/Dick Cheney/Blackwater/Illuminati/Joo plot behind 9/11.

A couple of terrorists got real smart and flew some planes into buildings in order to kill people.

Occam's razor.

[itepearce]

I seriously doubt that we will ever be able to wipe out opium poppy production in that area.

But we have B-52's with laser guided incendiaries.

Sure, someone could hide some in the basement, but not enough to buy the Taliban so much as a pot to piss in.

[JamesTornC]

But I don't go in for conspiracy theories and all that.

bin Laden worked for the CIA a looooong time ago.

And I don't have a great deal of faith in the he-said, he-said coming out of the Taliban camp - as I've said, they were a despotic menace.

.

That's right, the most important is to put a LABLE on anything you don't like the sound of! It works a treat for Americans. Fortunately, not all people are Americans and retain their ability to think and analise facts for themselves without the aid of the official propaganda.

Anyway, you do admit the facts that 1.OBL was (is?) working for CIA. How long ago, you don't know, therefore should not comment on it.
2. Taliban was cooperating with the US, but wanted some evidence of a person's guilt.

Yet, the US did not posess such evidence and hopped off to liberate Afghans from their natural resources, pipeline and the lives of those who defend their country.

If Taliban was such a "despotic menace", why did the US help them to come to power and courted them until the point they became stroppy about the pipiline?

And just so you put things into perspective: for a great deal of people around the world -- the US is a despotic menace.

[payloansday]

And just so you put things into perspective: for a great deal of people around the world -- the US is a despotic menace.

Because we thwart them every time they try to be a despotic menace.


I'm playing it.

[Esmeralfaf]

Poppy growing was the lowest under the Taliban.

Yes it was during the time when there was a glut in the market. It was banned to create an artificial shortage, thus raising prices.

[Slchtjgb]

Because we thwart them every time they try to be a despotic menace

Indeed. No one gets to be a despotic menace but us! And, er, well, the people who are helping us. And, I guess, the ones who aren't getting in our way. But other than that, no more despotic menaces. I mean really, we've got to draw the line somewhere.

[layevymed]

That's a great stat.

It's a shame the Taliban also had an extensive record of repression, human rights abuses, and terrorism sponsorship.

Well, given that the war on drugs = repression and human rights abuses, I'm not surprised. The US govt is doing this to Americans, too.
There was also the small matter of them providing sanctuary and support to al Qaeda prior to 9/11 and failing to take any reasonable criminal or investigative action against that organization or Osama bin Laden following the attacks.

Don't get me wrong, lowering opium production by publicly executing the poppy farmers was certainly a step in the right direction (), but to hold the Taliban up as an exemplar of anything other than despotism and failed governance is ridiculous.

[ftpsoft]

Because we thwart them every time they try to be a despotic menace.

To whom? To US? When did Afghanistan, or Iraq despoticaly abused the United States? Was it when they did not express a wish to let you rob them unhindered?

And that picture of yours perfectly illustrates the mindset of Americans: you see nothing wrong in being a bully stomping around the world like an elephant in a China shop, yet express great incredulity at the fact people refuse to be greatful to you for your "efforts".

[preptarra]

To whom? To US? When did Afghanistan, or Iraq despoticaly abused the United States? Was it when they did not express a wish to let you rob them unhindered?

And that picture of yours perfectly illustrates the mindset of Americans: you see nothing wrong in being a bully stomping around the world like an elephant in a China shop, yet express great incredulity at the fact people refuse to be greatful to you for your "efforts".

How many democratically elected, free market, free countries have we "bully stomped"?

[gkruCRi1]

How many democratically elected, free market, free countries have we "bully stomped"?

Possibly the "bully stomping" most relevant to world events today was Operation Ajax, which you might want to check at Wikipedia. That was when the CIA and British MI6 orchestrated a coup which overthrew the democratically elected socialist president of Iran, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, and returned the hated Shah to power. Then when the Shah was overthrown and fled to the US, Iranian students took American hostages in the US embassy and tried to get some of the billions of dollars the Shah supposedly had in US banks, and this led to the US shooting down an Iranian airliner in the Persian Gulf which led to some Libyans bombing a US airliner over Lockerbie, and on and on... Still, Iran was turning away from Ayatollah rule and students were agitating for more freedom when George Bush called Iran part of an "Axis of Evil", and people started rallying around the Church again...

[FalHaitle]

How many democratically elected, free market, free countries have we "bully stomped"?

And who appointed your country to decide what form of government has a right to existence in countries that has nothing to do with you?

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't "democracy" a "will of masses" of each country in question, and not "will of Americans that they impose on everyone around the world"?!