Tag: Opium

Yet Another Delusional Attempt

There has been a wealth of opinions, including myself, on how to end the conflict in Afghanistan and bring the troops home…..some have been hideous and others just plain stupid….but as always there are those that think it can be done by throwing money at it……

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday unveiled a long-term, non-military strategy to stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan that calls for sending more civilian experts to the region.More than a month after the Obama administration announced a military surge for Afghanistan, the new civilian strategy outlines plans to rebuild the Afghan farm sector, improve governance, and reintegrate extremists into society.

It also calls for boosting Pakistan’s capabilities to fight a growing Islamist insurgency and to enhance the US partnership with Islamabad partly through supporting political and economic reforms.

They want to improve governance and farming…okay, let us look at those two specifically…… Opium production accounts for $2.8 billion of Afghanistan’s GDP that is about 25% of the total economy and $2.5 billion is spent on bribes to keep the wheels of government turning, which is about 23% of GDP….there you have it about 50% of the country’s economy is from illegal activity….now I ask how will we improve on that?

Wait!  I am not finished yet!  There is more…Karzai has a new plan to counter the Taliban…..

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Friday he plans to offer money and jobs to insurgents to draw them back to civilian life and away from their Taliban masters.Karzai told the BBC the major powers, including the United States, would fund the scheme to tempt Taliban fighters to lay their weapons aside and head home to their communities.

Hardline Taliban supporters, who were members of Al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups, would not be accepted, the president stressed.

The Taliban gives its volunteers higher salaries than the Afghan government can afford to pay its forces, and the president said his project would have international backing to provide the necessary funds.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Friday described the Taliban as part of the “political fabric” of Afghanistan, but said any future role would depend on insurgents laying down their weapons. Related article: Taliban part of ‘political fabric’ in Afghanistan.

The US will fund the project?  Is it just me or does all this sunshine and puppies sound a bit whimsical?  BTW, this has all been tried before and it did not work so well in Vietnam….what is that old saying?  “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome……”

Where Have All The Poppies Gone?

No damn where!  Opium production in Afghanistan is going full tilt, just another indication that the “War on Drugs” is about as worthless as tits on a bull.

US efforts to eradicate opium poppy crops in Afghanistan have been “wasteful and ineffective”, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan says.

Richard Holbrooke said the $800m  a year the US was spending on counter-narcotics would be better used in supporting Afghan farmers.

Efforts to eradicate poppy cultivation, Mr Holbrooke told a conference in Belgium – the Brussels Forum – had failed to make an impact on the Taleban insurgents’ ability to raise money from the drugs trade.

“It hasn’t hurt the Taleban one iota,” he said, “because whatever money they’re getting from the drugs trade, they get whatever they need whether we reduce the acreage or not.”

The US said last month that poppy cultivation had been reduced by 19% last year. Despite the drop, the UN estimates that Afghanistan accounts for 90% of the world’s illicit heroin supply.

“The United States alone is spending over $800m a year on counter-narcotics. We have gotten nothing out of it, nothing,” he said.

“It is the most wasteful and ineffective program I have seen in 40 years.”

Ya think?  Pretty much sums up the ENTIRE program of the War on Drugs….time to look for a REAL alternative and save the money for whgere it is needed…in the good old US of A.