In fairness to the Taliban, its far too lucrative to pass up in a country that doesn't have much in the way of income. The opium production would take place irrespective of whether the Taliban or a democratic government were running the country because farmers can't make much money off of other crops compared to what they make off of opium. Afghan politicians have also been deeply complicit in receiving money off of opium production over the years.
Hypocritical? Yeah probably, but it makes it a bit confusing due to the lack of central control and all. Fact is when they were in full power they weren't big fans of it and of course that might have changed but in general the ideology has been anti drugs.
This is an American source:In fairness to the Taliban, its far too lucrative to pass up in a country that doesn't have much in the way of income. The opium production would take place irrespective of whether the Taliban or a democratic government were running the country because farmers can't make much money off of other crops compared to what they make off of opium. Afghan politicians have also been deeply complicit in receiving money off of opium production over the years.
Give it a few years and let's see how the Taliban handle this issue. You will eventually find that they can't pass up the money, especially if they are cutoff from outside funds because most of the world don't recognize them.
The Taliban got involved in the drug trade to begin with as they needed the money to sustain their fight against the US/Afghan regime. Now that they're in power again, they've already said they're going to stop trading and trafficking it.
That's possibly true I'm just pointing out its not right to say they "always" have profited off of it. This is V2.0 though so we never know.
This farmer's view is the same view I saw repeatedly when there. As long as there is a profit motive, those in charge will tacitly allow it to happen because they themselves, along with farmers, are reaping the financial benefits
I think you're gradually figuring out how this stuff works. Good stuff.
What?
Someone said they've always been high producers of opium and I only corrected that.By that I mean the Taliban will say one thing publicly to protect that image but in reality they will look the other way or even tacitly accept opium production, possibly in exchange for money. Like any government, really.What?
well of course. I just wanted to add some context.
I do and consume it
Virgil Sollozzo.
Spot on.
The world recognises Saudi Arabia… all it will take is for the USA to acknowledge the Taliban, and the world will follow. They already have a HQ in Qatar, a major US ally where there is a major US military base.
Of course it would be hard to gain support.
US recognising Taliban....are you on acid?
Do you think if it was IS taking over Afghanistan over the past 4-5 years the US would have just sat back and let it happen? No, they would be dropping air strikes on every known IS location and sending ground troops if necessary.
Trump made a deal. They don't attack US troops, and vice versa. But that is a very long way from recognzing them as a legitimate government.
A journey of a 1000 miles begins with one step.
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The US not giving the Taliban any legitimacy will only be for public consumption. It's quite obvious they have been talking to the Taliban for a number of years culminating in this takeover by the Taliban. There is and will still be back channels of communications.
Well of course, they did a deal with Trump. Nobody claimed it was secret. It happens in many conflicts, but official recognition brings many other consequences.
Not sure what the " message" is now but in the early days of the war there were plenty of pictures of the Brits and American soldiers defending the poppy fields as production spiked after the Taliban had reduced it by a big percentage.
The US sent DEA people to Afghanistan in the early days to deal with the drug issue. If there was any protecting of fields it would’ve been to preserve the ability of Afghan farmers to plant other crops and steer them away from the drug trade. Not a very effective strategy in the end given the lopsided profit disparities between poppy and conventional crops.
That's a really interesting article. (There are so many areas of the world I should know more about!)
And various cartels especially those within earshot of the US consumer.
I do not recall a single operation with primary mission intent to squash opium production, granted I was not clued into the joint ops world in the first half of the war.
Preserve the ability ? Its fecking soil.
Soil with massive bomb craters in it would be useless.
Is this a serious post? You think the Taliban is capable of bombing ~650,000km worth of land?
I wasn't referring to the Taliban.
