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would it not also make those soldiers monitoring and allowing the cultivation terrorists as well?
i wish I could be that naive. Ignorance is bliss.
nake13
reply to post by Corruption Exposed
The opium poppies are not exclusively used for the production of heroin, they are also used to manufacture morphine and various other opiate analgesics.US and UK/NATO troops have been used to oversee the poppy harvests, and to ensure that the product is transported safely to enable it to be passed on to legitimate licensed morphine and opiate analgesic manufacturers.
,
speculativeoptimist
To generate/maintain some type of economy for Afghanistan?
It is really bizarre that the Taliban in 2001 tried to ban opium production and sslaes claiming "it was a unIslamic thing to take drug and sell drugs" and then record poppy production occurred thereafter.
It sounds like(from one side) if production stopped, the farmers would blame US for poverty and return to the Taliban's rule.
November 2009, the Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics General Khodaidad Khodaidad stated that the majority of drugs are stockpiled in two provinces controlled by troops from the US, the UK, and Canada. He also said that NATO forces are taxing the production of opium in the regions under their control and that foreign troops are earning money from drug production in Afghanistan.
publicintelligence.net...
What a surreal image, considering...edit on 18-9-2013 by speculativeoptimist because: (no reason given)
Why are armed soldiers standing there watching farmers tend to illegal crops?
Common sense tells me that I am not the only one who believes that opium is one of the MANY reasons why Afghanistan is still, and most likely will always be occupied by Western forces.
Before the invasion, the Taliban had the opium trade in check, so once they were settled in the invaders dipped into the Afghan heroin trade...the government hates competition!
Look closely, the video shows THE SAME soldier. There is just one guy there.
signalfire
reply to post by nake13
Except we can synthesize it; no need to grow it halfway around the world. I think the soldiers are being told they are guarding it for medical (legal) purposes.