Article

2009-05-31 Afghanistan

Taliban using poppy crop to fund fighting

Gretchen Peters, an American author, has alleged the Taliban insurgency is funded through the heroin trade.

No, really??? Whoda thunk it!

Peters told Voice of America the Taliban are better funded today than they were soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City. She said the Taliban get more than 70 percent of their funds from opium, and also claimed there is circumstantial evidence of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden's involvement in the drug trade.

Actually, it's comforting to hear they aren't getting most of their funds from donations.

Peters, who has reported from Pakistan and Afghanistan for the Associated Press and the ABC News, said the US must disrupt the Taliban's heroin money trail. "While the insurgents earn some money from collecting taxes from the farmers, the bulk of the earnings come from protecting the trade, protecting the convoys and protecting the refineries and taxing the refineries and yet we are not going after that element of it," she said.

Easier said than done, otherwise we would have done it. It's not just a matter of spraying RoundUp over the entire southern part of the country.

In Viet Nam they used Agent Orange for the purpose. We subsequently found the side effects unacceptable. Round-up is considerably more benign, but even so.

Posted by Fred 2009-05-31 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 It's not just a matter of spraying RoundUp over the entire southern part of the country.

You don't need to spray but about 10% of it. But the collateral damage would be unacceptable. You would kill not only all the poppy but all the essential foodstuffs in between, and thus all the civilians in the entire region. To many, this is a feature, not a but, but.....

Posted by Glenmore 2009-05-31 00:14|| 2009-05-31 00:14|| Front Page Top

#2 A fungus or virus fixated on poppies would do the trick... Just saying...

Posted by 3dc 2009-05-31 01:44|| 2009-05-31 01:44|| Front Page Top

#3 A fungus or virus fixated on poppies

How about one that doesn't kill it's host---just adds a bit of zest.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2009-05-31 07:57|| 2009-05-31 07:57|| Front Page Top

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