Reason #213 Why We're Failing in Afghanistan
August 28, 2007
Afghan Opium Crop at Record High
By DAVID ROHDE
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 27 — Opium cultivation in Afghanistan grew by 17 percent in 2007, reaching record levels for the second straight year, according to a United Nations report released today.
Despite a $600 million American counternarcotics effort and an increase in the number of poppy-free provinces from 6 to 13, the report found that Afghanistan still produces more narcotics than Colombia, Peru and Bolivia combined.
It now accounts for 93 percent of the world’s opium, up from 92 percent last year, the report said.
Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes Policy, which issued the report, called the new figures “terrifying.” . . . “The longer we let this cancer spread the deeper its going to get into the economic system,” Mr. Costa said. “And the more difficult it’s going to be to cut it out.” _____________________________________________________________________ The …