...as of 2007 figures, comes from 7 provinces of Afghanistan, mostly in the South and West, all under serious Taliban contest.
7,700 tons.
TONS
And even in the knowledge of that figure, there is still debate amongst the NATO leaders as to what is to be done.
Here's one to ponder: If the total annual haul is 7,700 tons, that would be 38,500 camel-or-mule-back max loads (generously allowing 200kg), or 3,850 2-ton truckloads a year...
Lads, let's not be rude about it, but exactly what do you think comes *back* on those 'beasts' of burden? It sure isn't Persian Rugs.
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13 comments:
They need all those trucks to bring back all the dollar bills! :D
Or guns
Maybe we should "test" our entire arsenal of thermobaric weapons on those seven provinces.
@maxkon88
((smirk)) If it is dollar bills, they are going to need bigger trucks.
@mr. bill
that certainly qualifies as "thinking big" on the answer. Ow.
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@All
One *could* attempt bomb, burn, and poison great areas of countryside... (you have to know where I am going with this, right?)
...but even if one was to ignore the legal challenges in this day and age...
...are you willing to make policy that functionally criminalizes the population of a region, and then summarily and collectively punishes them?
and unfortunately, the people subsist off this--
Burma ranks high too--
Afghanistan opium survey- 2008- Council on Foreign Relations
The gross income for farmers who cultivated opium poppy is estimated at US$ 732 million in
2008. This is a decrease from 2007, when farm-gate income for opium was estimated at US$i billion.
1 billion.
mucho moolah even with a decrease! How scary!
check this out-- this is from 2001
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (February 15, 2001 8:19 p.m. EST
U.N. drug control officers said the Taliban religious militia has nearly wiped out opium production in Afghanistan -- once the world's largest producer -- since banning poppy cultivation last summer.
A 12-member team from the U.N. Drug Control Program spent two weeks searching most of the nation's largest opium-producing areas and found so few poppies that they do not expect any opium to come out of Afghanistan this year....
I am afraid not! Someone did a lot of growing in the last few years!
In the year 2000, Afghanistan produced nearly 4,000 tons of opium- 75% of the world's supply--
and with what you posted, 93% presently-- alarming!
off topic--
this is a great blog-- you sure have me reading! grrrr!
@Susan
It remains one of the wonders of this business that groups like the Taliban and UIC / al-Shabaab in Somalia make a great display of morality campaigns, and may in fact for a time crush all independent drug growers or pirates or such, but then as soon as it is to their advantage, the activity comes back bigger than before... which means that it never really went away.
Glad you are finding this all so interesting!
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@All
I thought for sure I'd get at least one comment doing a compare and contrast with drug-eradication programs in Latin America...
We here at CompHyp are big supporters of the reporters in the field from FOXNews, and count some of them as visitors here as well (thanks!).
In that good spirit, *here* is Mal James' weblog on his current assignment in Afghanistan (with Dana Lewis).
M.James is the cameraman, D. Lewis is the reporter, and they are both doing a heck of job out there on a really rough assignment.
I left a plug for you in maljames's blog... if you want to check it out later if the comment posts..
my plug did not show up on maljames's blog-- ingrate!
@Susan
AFAIK, no comments have been cleared on M. James' weblog as of yet. If he does let any other than yours post, then perhaps you have a claim. ((grin)) It is not like he's being like 'B'.
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