Mindy Collins
After the end of the war in Afghanistan, the economy was very dilapidated. Reconstruction efforts were being undermined by a soaring production of opium. As a matter of fact, Afghanistan was producing so much of the opium poppy that it accounts for seventy-five percent of the world’s entire production of this poppy. Obviously it is much easier for farmers to make money selling the opium poppy than any other crop. However, the growth and sale of the opium poppy was outlawed in a new government ruled by Hamid Karzai. Despite this new law, about nine hundred farmers that were surveyed said they planned on increasing the amount of poppy they were going to produce the next year. Farmers can make more than three times the profit selling poppy and their normal crops as opposed to just legal crops. Not only is this extra income helpful in providing food for the family, it also gives some extent of wealth.
Even though Karzai’s government has expressed concern over this topic, not much is being done to address the problem. So far, only two teams have been assembled, made up of fifteen people each, to start erasing this endemic. Even worse is the condition of the Afghan military. It consists of only ten thousand soldiers, while private assemblies are gaining populations of four or five times this many.
Reportedly, there are nearly one million heroin addicts in Afghanistan and growing. This number shocks me. What I find even more flabbergasting is the output of opium Afghanistan creates. Three fourths of the worlds production comes from this one place. I find that very difficult to believe, especially since it is illegal. I wonder when the US will step in and try to help eradicate this problem. Plans have been made, but implementation is waiting.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4639930/
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