“why never any mention of the Russian mafia”
This was a UN Survey, the same UN that Russia sits on the Security Council.
Russia has a dual problem, it’s mafia brings in enormous amounts of badly needed foreign currency by selling opiates to Europe and America. At the same time millions of Russians are addicts and dying of AIDS from dirty needles.
That bacilli requires rain to spread and kill poppies effectively. Most of the poppy fields are irrigated due to frequent drought.
Trust me, Round Up and a few crop dusters would do the job and make the land barren for years. We would be at war with Karzai if we tried. Hard to open up another war front with the very government that we put in office and protect.
We have to make the hard political decisions, the tactics are easy.
no way , Roundup/Glyphosate has a very short half life
It is in no way a soil sterilizer . The main time to hit them is pre-podding , interrupt the seed supplies . Do this for a few cycles and they will not be able to replace what they need to plant .
At the same time intro them to winter wheat , barley , millet , corn and other useful grain crops . Free seed .
Guarantee them fair market price with NO middlemen , the farmer makes the $ . With the papaver wiped out , this would be a very attractive opportunity.
The secret is to wipe out ALL the poppy , not just some . All or nothing and F Karzai , pull his security detail, the guy is a worthless POS