Afghan Opium Fields Show Failure of U.S. Economic-Aid Efforts

'Afghan Opium Fields Show Failure of U.S. Economic-Aid Efforts', Bloomberg, 11 February 2008

EXCERPT: "The strategy combined economic development, drug control and security: two Afghan-American brothers with a factory in Kandahar and a plan to give opium farmers an incentive to grow cotton instead. For two years, Yosuf and Abdul Mir pleaded with U.S. officials for a $1.5 million grant for their project, arguing that it meshes perfectly with a billion-dollar-a-year American opium-eradication program. Then, last year, they were turned down. The Agency for International Development's refusal reflects a broader American policy breakdown in Afghanistan, according to critics: Even as the U.S. and NATO win tactical military battles against the Taliban, they may be losing the war through an inability to create the economic and political environment needed to defeat the insurgents."

To continue reading the article, click here.

Related posts:
'Opium winter rapid assessment survey: UNODC', 6 February 2008
'Opium is a low risk crop in a high risk environment', 13 December 2007
'UN: Afghan opium trade fueling insurgency', 16 November 2007
'Opium and Afghanistan: reassessing US counter-narcotics strategy', 25 October 2007