Rekord bei Opiumanbau in Afghanistan

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Deutsche Welle, 13 November 2013

The German international radio reports that the latest UNODC report found that the acreage used for poppy growing has never been as large as this year. AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted extensively about the histroy of poopy cultivation and the contradictions in the West’s anti-narcotics policy:

“The opium boom is a result of the more than 30 years of war.” Pakistan’s military regime had cracked down on production in their own country and pushed it over the border into Afghanistan. In the 1980s, the mujahedin used drug money to purchse weapons to fight the Soviet occupation troops. After 2001, ISAF “had no mandate to act against the drug trafficking.” this included Germany which, as other countries, took the position that this was the responsibility of the Afghan authorities. But “parts of the drug economy enjoys political protection” and a lot of the government’s anti-narcotics was merely “facade”.