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| Afghanistan |
| Fifty drug lords on US target list in Afghanistan |
| 2009-08-10 |
| It's an A-Pee story, so here's the teaser. Full story at link. So whatever happened to the "we don't eradicate poppies" idea? Does that mean they've switched from spraying roundup to spraying lead? Does the poppy field get left behind as a magnet for other bad guys and we wipe them out too? If you see those fields start rotting rather than being harvested then that would be a good sign indeed. A U.S. military "kill or capture" list of 367 wanted insurgents in Afghanistan includes 50 major drug traffickers who give money to Taliban militants, U.S. military commanders told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Only 50? U.S. and NATO troops are attacking drug warehouses and militant-linked narco dealers in Afghanistan for the first time this year, a new strategy to counter the country's booming opium poppy and heroin trade. NATO defense ministers approved the targeted drug raids late last year, saying the link between Taliban insurgents and the drug trade was clear. That only took eight years to figure out. According to a report to be issued by the committee this week, U.S. commanders have no restrictions on the use of force against the targets, "which means they can be killed or captured on the battlefield," the report states. I vote captured. Then killed according to how much info they produce. When the nexus between a drug trafficker and the insurgency is clear enough, the drug trafficker is put on a list of insurgent leaders wanted by U.S. forces, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, the top U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan. For anything more than personal use: Kill him and let God sort it out. It's probably more humane because after only a few examples they'll figure it out and stop producing poppies. "The list of targets are those that are contributing to the insurgency, so the key leadership, and part of that obviously is the link between the narco industry and the militants," Smith said Monday. To be placed on this target list, formally called the "joint integrated prioritized target list," requires two verifiable human sources and "substantial additional evidence," the report says. How about if a satellite sees your soon-to-be sorry a$$ tending to more than a few square meters of poppies? |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #7 I disagree. The poppies get the best land and care. The center of poppy production is the Helmand river valley, nourished by a 50 year old US funded irrigation system and Pakistani fertilizer (when not used for bombs). That is prime land for high yields and would go a long way toward relieving Afghanistan's need to import food (actually US Aid). In 2008, 157,000 hectares of opium were cultivated, down 19 percent from 193,000 hectares in 2007. Opium production only declined 6 percent to 7,700 tonnes because of record high yields. Helmand cultivated 103,000 hectares in 2008. One more observation. Why is high concentration ammonium nitrate fertilizer allowed to be imported into Afghanistan? Do the government officials know there is a war going on? It would be better for us to subsidize non explosive fertilizer. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-08-10 21:16 |
| #6 Opium poppies grown on very marginal land and are typically planted with primitive slash and burn techniques. Most other agricultural products won't grow there, or require significantly more water, fertilizer, tools and know-how ... not to mention access to markets before the products begin to spoil. One alternative that's been proposed by a Euro group is to license poppy production and concentrate on harvesting the results. There's a shortage of morphine for medical uses IIUC. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-08-10 19:58 |
| #5 If the Afghans have land to grow poppies then they don't need any more US food aid. The aid is distorting the agricultural market. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-08-10 17:17 |
| #4 These farmers could be paid off but some people in Afghan Government are making too much money. Start with Karzai's dodgy brothers! |
| Posted by: paul2 2009-08-10 17:02 |
| #3 What crop would make more money than opium poppies? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-08-10 16:25 |
| #2 They won't put a dent in opium production until they provide the Afghan farmers with a way to make more money growing something else. It's called, 'economics', and someone in Washington should study it sometime. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-08-10 14:58 |
| #1 The only reason this would matter would be if the US put out deal or alive wanted posters. Knowing how bad this can be for the health, about 50% would probably retire, or tell the Taliban to take a leap. The other 50% would kick down a lot more money to Afghan government insiders. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-08-10 13:57 |