[gandalftb]

Opium has been cultivated in Afghanistan for centuries. It was under royal control from 1933 to 1973.

Annual production had been under 100,000 hectares until the Taliban banned it in 2000 when it dropped to about zero. The Taliban, though, didn't offer any alternatives to farmers and faced widespread revolt.

We invaded in 2001 but did very little about poppies until 2003, when we appointed a “drug czar” for Afghanistan......

In 2005, the first U.S. counternarcotics strategy for Afghanistan was issued emphasizing eradication.

Obama's 2014 military drawdown caused the DEA to completely withdraw from all the provinces.

In 11 years from 2003 to 2014 cultivation roughly doubled.

In the last 3 years since the drawdown, cultivation almost doubled again, now more than 810,000 acres or 1,266 square miles.

Afghan poppy farming supports about 590,000 full-time jobs. Farmers, processors, smugglers, and people that shoot at us.

The coalition forces, including contractors is somewhere around 8% of the poppy industry forces. The Afghan government only controls about half the country.

Very thorough report, sat photos before and after, good conclusions.

Mainly, there is no hope of even controlling opium with the current corrupt government and our limited forces.

[DesertRhino]

“The Afghan government only controls about half the country.”

Well to be fair, we’ve only been fighting there for 17 years. In another 30 or 40 we’ll have it nailed down.

[ViLaLuz]

the Taliban banned it in 2000 when it dropped to about zero.
......................
Baloney! The Taliban forced people to grow it. They aren’t against making money as long as the drugs are sold to non-islamics.

[Jmouse007]

Burn it, salt the fields and habitually carpet bomb anyone and everything trying to regrow it. Problem solved once and for all.

These "farmers" and "workers" are producing a poison specifically designed to addict and ultimately kill the user. They are directly responsible for countless millions of deaths and untold misery around the globe. These "farmers" don't deserve to be pitied, their "family business" needs to be utterly destroyed.

As far as what happeneds to them afterwards, NOT OUR PROBLEM. Let them learn to work producing something benificial to the world instead of deadly poison. If they can't or refuse to do so then, let nature take its course. Again, NOT OUR PROBLEM.

[43north]

Time for some Round Up bombs.