Inside The Afghan Poppy Wars

Is The U.S.-Led War On Drugs In Afghanistan Undermining The War On Terror?

(CBS)  It's one of the most critical battles in the war on terror, fought not on the ground in Iraq, but in the poppy fields of Afghanistan. More than one half of Afghanistan's economy is based on the opium trade. U.N. figures show 93 percent of the world's opium comes from that country's poppy fields. And the Taliban is estimated to have earned as much as 100 million dollars last year from the poppy trade. The U.S. has spent ten times as much trying to wipe out the problem - with little to show for it. Chief Investigative Correspondent Armen Keteyian looks at a billion-dollar program.

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It's been called the world's deadliest flower.

"Because that flower turns into heroin, which turns into money," said Eric Sherepita. "That money turns into weapons used against us."

Sherepita spent a year supervising a small army of private contractors and hundreds of Afghans cutting down fields of poppies all over the country - at a cost of more than $6,800 per acre.

But despite their best efforts and more than a billion in taxpayer dollars poured into the war on drugs on all fronts since 2004 - poppy production is up 300 percent in the last six years. It now totals more than 470,000 acres.

Former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Charles, who authored the poppy program, now tells CBS News it missed because it never went on the offensive.

"What we are looking at in Afghanistan is a colossal missed opportunity," Charles said.

"My biggest fear was that we would end up where we are today: with record harvests and just 10 percent of the crop eradicated; one-third of what experts say is needed to make a difference," Charles said.

And Charles is hardly alone. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Congress: "I think it's patently obvious we have not been successful in the counter-narcotics effort in Afghanistan."

In the end, it appears the only big winners are private military contractors like DynCorp -- paid over $200 million to destroy these fields. But even contractor Sherepita, who believes in the program, sees the anger it feeds.

"Sometimes you'd meet with the locals. They'd be, you know, kind of furious. You know you're takin' money and food out of their mouths," Sherepita said.

"I've talked to elderly people who have said they might as well have just run over me with the tractor, because how am I going to feed my family?" said Norine MacDonald.

For the last three years, MacDonald has lived among Southern Afghans and seen the U.S. poppy policy backfire, she says, from the ground up. Watching farmers who had their fields wiped out switch their sympathies to the Taliban.

"The U.S.-led war on drugs in Southern Afghanistan is undermining the war on terror. It's absolutely conclusive," MacDonald said.

MacDonald's European-based advocacy group - the Senlis Council - proposed an alternative: A pilot project where farmers grow poppies legally, to produce morphine for medical use.

While there's growing support abroad for her idea - it met a stone wall at the State Department.

CBS News wanted to talk to the State Department official in charge of the poppy program, Ambassador Thomas Schweich, but he canceled a scheduled interview at the last minute. The government said no one else could do it because no one else feels comfortable talking about the subject.

Little wonder. Despite all the money spent trying to eliminate their cash crop, U.S. military analysts say the Taliban is growing in strength.

EDITOR’S NOTE: CBS News incorrectly reported that Thomas Schweich was at the State Department when this story originally aired on June 25, 2008. Schweich left his job five days earlier.

While still serving at the State Department as the Coordinator for Counter Narcotics and Justice Reform in Afghanistan, Ambassador Schweich cancelled a scheduled interview with CBS News. Earlier, he had offered to do an interview once he left the Bush Administration. However, CBS News wanted an interview with a State Department official accountable for the program and declined Schweich's offer.

[samsel3]

U S troops are told that they can pass through the poppy fields but cannot touch the crops. The use of a private contractor destroying crops has been selective and only for the benefit of the media as a smoke screen to make it appear that something is being done. The US has lied about the Taliban blaming them for the opiate production . The truth is drugs are against their religion and that is why the Taliban were destroying poppy production prior to the Afghan invasion....You can''''t believe anything from this administration it''''s all BULL.........

[ole1951]

Rather than spending all of our tax dollars hiring security personnel and then paying to have the poppy harvests destroyed (temporarily), why not spray the fields with Roundup herbicide? This would be much more economical as it would be a one-time ''fix'' for those fields as it kills everything.

[skyshoes]

Here''s one for ya. They had a report on tee vee a few years back that the Afghan farmers resorted to growing poppies because of economic reasons.

The $200 dollars A YEAR they earned growing dope plants was FAR MORE than they could earn growing something else.

(My wifes idea) with all the BILLIONS these inept war on drugs dolts spend THEY COULD BUY THE ENTIRE CROP for a few million and burn it.... Gates? Google dweebs? Anybody interested? makes to much sense for the right wing schmoes running the country to figure out.

You don''t have to kill anybody, you don''t have to economically destroy small impoverished farmers. AND you cut off the Taliban''s money supply.

[rochest]

Posted by rochest at 10:59 AM : Jun 26, 2008

paying them to grow sugar cane for export to be turn to oil?

you can turn sugar cane into OIL,,, LOL

good one,,,

cheaper to depopulate those regions,,,

if they keep growing poppies,,, cheaper to turn the ground into non producing ground,,,

problem solved,,,

Posted by terrorislami at 11:53 AM : Jun 26, 2008



yes sugarcane can become oil just ask Brazil because of this they are now pretty much energy independent!

[rochest]

Posted by rochest at 10:59 AM : Jun 26, 2008

paying them to grow sugar cane for export to be turn to oil?

you can turn sugar cane into OIL,,, LOL

good one,,,

cheaper to depopulate those regions,,,

if they keep growing poppies,,, cheaper to turn the ground into non producing ground,,,

problem solved,,,

Posted by terrorislami at 11:53 AM : Jun 26, 2008



yes sugarcane can become oil just ask Brazil because of this they are now pretty much energy independent!

[terrorislami]

NO RECESSION NO RECESSION NO RECESSION NO RECESSION

Fragile economy improves but not out of woods yet

Fragile economy improves and tax rebates should spur consumers -- but not out of woods yet

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The fragile economy improved slightly at the beginning of the year and could grow a bit stronger in the current quarter as extra cash from tax rebates spurs people to buy more. Still, it''''s not out of danger yet.

The economy grew at a 1 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, helped in large part by stronger sales of U.S. products overseas, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

That was a tad stronger than the government''''s previous estimate of 0.9 percent growth for the quarter. And, the new reading was better than the anemic 0.6 percent growth rate logged in the final three months of last year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080626/ec
onomy.html?.v=14

[terrorislami]

Posted by rochest at 10:59 AM : Jun 26, 2008

paying them to grow sugar cane for export to be turn to oil?

you can turn sugar cane into OIL,,, LOL

good one,,,

cheaper to depopulate those regions,,,

if they keep growing poppies,,, cheaper to turn the ground into non producing ground,,,

problem solved,,,

[rochest]

the approach of destroying farmers fields is not working and in fact turning people into Taliban sympathizers since farmers are using this crop to buy food for their families and when we destroy it they go Hungry . why is are we not buying the crop or paying them to grow sugar cane for export to be turn to oil? for the amount of money that this program costs we surely pay them what poppies get their family!

[caliguy55]

People who don''t learn from history are bound to repeat their mistakes over and over again. Prohibition was a complete failure from the very beginning. I believe it was some time in 1970, when Nixon declared the "War on Drugs". That war was lost that same day for the very same reasons that Prohibition didn''t work, i.e., if a person really wants to ingest a substance for whatever reason, they''re eventually going to do it and there is no way to stop them. Personally, I think the only solution is to completely legalize all drugs with government stores set up to sell them for a small profit (which would be much less than the price people pay for them now). If that were done, the drug cartels would be wiped out overnight, the narco-terrorist could no longer finance their nefarious activities, and millions of people would not have their lives ruined with a drug rap. The small profit the government would make would easily be enough to finance as many treatment centers as were needed to help those who would have a problem with drug use.

[babooph]

Didn''t the US propaganda system once say the Taliban had gotten rid of the opium?Another sign of Bush "victory"?

[zykracosmos]

That''''s a nice idea, prelgovisk but seriously, hasn''''t that already been tried? How much can they make for an acre of corn versus poppies? I imagine poppies are mighty easy to grow and don''''t require the fuel and fertilizer necessary to grow corn.

The thing to do is legalize drugs. I don''''t do drugs because the damage it would do to my health and pocketbook. People that do drugs do them regardless of whether it is legal or not.


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Posted by fermoy52 at 09:02 AM : Jun 26, 2008

You are using your American introverted perspective to try and understand the dynamics of the drug trade. Unrestricted drug flow creates a massive subculture of addicted, unproductive, dependent people. Even in the rural farmlands of America, the easy access to meth has produced an epidemic of addiction. Drug addiction is not something where people can just "change their minds" and quit. That''s why we still have cocaine streaming in from Columbia and Mexico. And it costs us BILLIONS in lost productivity, health care, and crime. An organized flow of heroin from Afghanistan resulted in a wave of drug use among the youth and unemployed in Russia. We are paying Halliburton''s subsidiary billions to eradicate the crops. Today there is a record amount of heroin going up to Russia from Afghanistan, causing an epidemic in AIDS, crime, grief, and misery.

[zykracosmos]

Commercial poppies are grown all over the world for opiates. Afghanistan and Pakistan are fine growing regions. Those who deal in heroin are an issue for the Police. Afghanis and Pakistanis are earning a living by producing the crop.


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Posted by Petro49L at 09:06 AM : Jun 26, 2008

This is hilarious. I can just imagine some guy with booby-trapped marijuana fields here in the US telling narc agents that "he is just trying to make a living." I''m sure they would understand.

[zykracosmos]

Could somebody help me better understand what the poppy trade in Afghanistan has to do with Bush''''s "War on Terror"....


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Posted by jocro12 at 09:00 AM : Jun 26, 2008

Karzai is only president of the capital city. Outside of Kabul, he has no authority. He''''s basically a mayor. The Taliban effectively run the rest of the country from the shadows, illustrated by their ability to not only control poppy production, but also to have it manufactured into heroin, market it for cash, and obtain weapons to be used against us. That is awfully organized for a group that is supposed to be "on the run." The truth is that we never fully committed to this war. All our troops are in Iraq helping Halliburton and Exxon get back into the oil business there. The bad guys are winning in Afghanistan because we have no troops to send there, and so the taxpayer is paying Halliburton subsidiaries more billions to carry out an ineffective crop destruction campaign. The Bush administration never focused on winning the war in Afghanistan from the beginning, using only air power to support a tribal revolt. That''''s why we couldn''''t kill Bin Laden when we had him cornered in Tora Bora. None of our guys were on the ground.

[zykracosmos]

Posted by Sarcelle at 08:29 AM : Jun 26, 2008

There is no OIL in Afghanistan Idiot. By the way, its Iraq not Irak looser.......

...and its "loser" not "looser" to you spelling champion.

[docpeter-2009]

Sarcelle wrote, "If all the Coalition soldiers were being employed at controlling drugs entering their countries, there would be no need to keep armies in Afghanistan and Irak. It is evident these wars are done for an other purpose...OIL"

First of all, it is not a soldier''s job to control drug traffic, that is a ploicing act. Second, how many of these soldiers Might Be on the opiates?

Many young men wet into the jungles of Viet Nam only smoke marajuana -which was abundant there- and to return to America as addicted to heroin -which was also abundant in Viet Nam.

Now, how are you going to expect a soldier to eliminate the drug he is addicted to? Oh I guess he/she could do more, of the drug, thereby decreasing the amount that reaches America by a miniscule amount.

[docpeter-2009]

RE: jocro12 asked, "Could somebody help me better understand what the poppy trade in Afghanistan has to do with Bush''''s ''War on Terror''...."

Obviously you didn''t read the story. From the story above, "Because that flower turns into heroin, which turns into money," said Erik Sherepita. "That money turns into weapons used against us."

Visa vis poppies in Afghanistan support terror, hence this is directly related to Bush''s "War on Terror."

[petro49l]

Commercial poppies are grown all over the world for opiates. Afghanistan and Pakistan are fine growing regions. Those who deal in heroin are an issue for the Police. Afghanis and Pakistanis are earning a living by producing the crop.

[fermoy52]

That''s a nice idea, prelgovisk but seriously, hasn''t that already been tried? How much can they make for an acre of corn versus poppies? I imagine poppies are mighty easy to grow and don''t require the fuel and fertilizer necessary to grow corn.

The thing to do is legalize drugs. I don''t do drugs because the damage it would do to my health and pocketbook. People that do drugs do them regardless of whether it is legal or not.

[fermoy52]

Unfortunately, I agree with tootall. Remember Dresden and Hiroshima. In the words of William Tecumseh Sherman, "Make ''em howl".

However, the U.S. doesn''t have the stomach for that anymore. Maybe that is good thing but maybe not. The world is a cold place and there are some people you just can''t help. What to do, what to do...

[prelgovisk]

Pay them not to farm, like we do with US farmers. Or better yet, pay them to grow the corn we are losing to ethonal production.