US and GB refuse discussion of Afghanistan’s opium problem during conference
London Conference Jan 28 2010
Sean Sailor
January 30, 2010
Like every other Afghanistan conference, this latest held January 28 in London failed to address the country’s opium problem.
More than 70 countries and international organizations met in London and declared the goals of creating “a more stable and secure Afghanistan,” transferring power to the Afghan government, and reintegrating “those who renounce violence, cut links to terrorism and agree to work within the democratic process” into Afghan society.
While failing to touch upon one of the very most central issues affecting all the others- the opium production and the corruption that surrounds it.
The United States and Great Britain do not like to discuss what for them is a delicate issue.
Russia has tried for years to convince them to launch anti-drug projects in Afghanistan and surrounding regions, as the Central Asian countries’ borders with Afghanistan are completely unprotected.
However, these pleas have fallen on deaf ears- both the United States and Great Britain refuse to even discuss the issue, whatever the importance might be to the Russians. Or anyone else either.
Even a cursory analysis of the issue will reveal why. The United States would prefer the subject not be brought up at all, especially at an international conference where many embarrassing facts would come to light.
The evidence would quickly turn into an avalanche of data drawing all to the inevitable conclusion that opium production- and the profits gained from it- is actually controlled by the occupiers themselves.
That opium production soared in Afghanistan after the U.S. led invasion in 2001 is a fact that cannot be ignored. However, an analysis of who actually profits from this multi-billion business would prove even more embarrassing.
Afghan poppy production in hectares 1994-2007
Much has been made of DEA and other U.S. “anti-drug” efforts in Afghanistan in official pronouncements over the last 6 years.
However, the reality is those efforts are aimed only against those producers that fall outside of the CIA/ Karzai regime monopoly.
This is what the occupiers of Afghanistan don’t want to discuss- at any conference, international or otherwise.
Even a Obama Administration claim that Afghanistan is an inherited problem would ring completely hollow.
One claim in favor of U.S. policy that could be made is that cultivated acres of poppy in 2009 fell some 20% from 2008 levels. A seeming success, until you take into account that although poppy production decreased, the resulting production of opium has not.
Experts have established that Afghan farmers have learned to produce more opium juice per poppy than a year ago- 56 kilograms of opium per hectare, 15% more than a year ago.
The price of raw opium has fallen in the past two years to $48 per kilo- this is further proof of the failure of U.S. and British anti-drug policies of even the past year. Claiming this is a new problem simply won’t work.
Claiming an inability to deal with the problem over the last 8 years would be preposterous.
The last thing the United States wishes to discuss is why, with an overwhelming military control and no type of limits placed on its policing powers it hasn’t been able to destroy a few flower beds in the last 8 years.
Flower beds every inch of which are mapped by satellite, much of it guarded by U.S. soldiers.
The Taliban were able to eliminate most of the crop in one growing season (2001), without all the high-tech gadgetry and unlimited funds available to the U.S. occupiers.
It’s quite easy to see why the United States and Great Britain wanted to avoid the subject, even at the expense of calling the January 28 conference off altogether.
It would simply be too embarrassing.
According to UN data, the drug business is estimated between $3.6 billion and $4.2 billion annually inside Afghanistan, but figures run closer to $63 billion for total revenue generated worldwide.
Sean Sailor January, 2010
