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US: Afghan Opium Crop Hurts Democracy
WASHINGTON — Record illegal drug production in Afghanistan supplies the Taliban insurgency with money and arms and the U.S.-backed government must take direct, prompt action against poppy growers, a State Department report said Friday.
Afghan farmers grew more poppies for opium in 2007 than ever before, the second year in a row of record production in the nation the United States invaded after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The drug trade deters progress toward a stable, economically independent democracy, the report said.
“The counterinsurgency nexus is both real and growing,” said Assistant Secretary David Johnson, the State Department’s top drug enforcement officer.
The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report says the largest and best-known insurgent group _ the hard-line Taliban _ benefits with money and weapons while offering protection to growers and traffickers.
“Eliminating narcotics cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan will require a long-term national and international commitment,” the State Department said in the report, which added: “The Afghan government must take decisive action against poppy cultivation soon to turn back the drug threat before its further growth and consolidation make it even more Read more »
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