Barnett R. Rubin & Jake Sherman, 'Counter-Narcotics to Stabilize Afghanistan: The False Promise of Crop Eradication', Center on International Cooperation New York University, February 2008
EXCERPT: "During 2007-2008, raw opium production in Afghanistan reached a record level of an estimated 8,200 tons. In the same period, the Taliban-led insurgency supported by al-Qaida spread to new areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both countries experienced unprecedented levels of terrorism as well. After six years of international assistance to the Afghan government, the expansion of both the illicit narcotics industry and the insurgency constitutes a powerful indictment of international policy and capacity.
In response, major international actors have prioritized counter-narcotics in Afghanistan and have linked it to counter-insurgency. The U.S. Government is supporting a plan to escalate poppy eradication in order to deprive the Taliban of funding for the insurgency. This strategy is based on inaccurate assertions in the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007. Poppy eradication does not reduce the amount of drug money available to fund insurgency, terrorism, and corruption. On the contrary, eradication raises the price of opium, thereby making more money available for insurgency, and causes cultivation to migrate to more remote areas."
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