On March 24, Russia and NATO discussed efforts...
NATO and toward the Taliban, which buys most of its weapons with money from the opium trade.No one disagrees with this assessment. NATO spokesman James Appathurai says the primary objective of the 120,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan is to destroy the Taliban, which would, in turn, solve the opium problem.
However, the numbers do not support Appathurai"s claims. Afghanistan currently produces 93% of the world"s heroin. The UN estimates that the Afghan opium trade is a $65 billion a year business. Only 3-4% ($150-300 million) of this amount goes to Taliban insurgents. Farmers and plantation owners get $500 million, while the powerful drug mafia pockets the rest.
It turns out that combating illicit drug trafficking is a more important and difficult task than defeating the Taliban, although the two tasks are interconnected.
NATO"s position is not without merit. It would be too costly to have troops spray poppy fields with chemicals. The army is supposed
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 5 6