4
POPSHas everyone forotten Afghanistan?
What justifies this? Various fables have been spun – "building democracy" is one. "The war on drugs" is the most perverse. When the Americans invaded Afghanistan in 2001 they had one striking success. They brought to an abrupt end a historic ban on opium production that the Taliban regime had achieved. A UN official in Kabul described the ban to me as "a modern miracle". The miracle was quickly rescinded. As a reward for supporting the Karzai "democracy", the Americans allowed Northern Alliance warlords to replant the country's entire opium crop in 2002. Twenty-eight out of the 32 provinces instantly went under cultivation. Today, 90 per cent of world trade in opium originates in Afghanistan. In 2005, a British government report estimated that 35,000 children in this country were using heroin. While the British taxpayer pays for a £1bn military super-base in Helmand Province and the second-biggest B! ritish embassy in the world, in Kabul, peanuts are spent on drug rehabilitation at hom
2
POPS Intelligence Chief Warns of Rising Qaeda Threat "Al Qaeda remains the pre-eminent threat against the United States," Mike McConnell told a Senate hearing more than six years after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Mr. McConnell said that fewer than 100 Al Qaeda terrorists have moved from Iraq to establish cells in other countries as the American military clamps down on their activities, and the organization "may deploy resources to mount attacks outside the country." Mr. McConnell said while the level of violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since last year, it is going to be years before Iraq is stable. "It is not going to be over in a year. It's going to be a long time to bring it to closure," he said. The Al Qaeda network in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan has suffered setbacks, but he said the group poses a persistent and growing danger.
5
POPSTaliban Taking Over Opium cultivation is back to all time high, Taleban's getting back in business, and after five years, we spent how much gazzillions of dollars in smoking Bin Laden perhaps to the next border? And Rumsfield is still in office. WoW
0
POPSUN warns of soaring Afghan opium Just so we can refresh our collective memory, the cultivation of opium was outlawed during Taleban regime, not that this was any excuse to keep them in power, but still, it was a reality.
5
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update