Pubdate: Thu, 23 Oct 2014
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Note: By The Washington Post

REPORT: U.S. DRUG WAR IN AFGHANISTAN A $7.6B FAILURE

The U.S. government wasted $7.6 billion on an ill-conceived drug war 
in Afghanistan that was doomed to failure from the start, according 
to a scathing new report from the Special Inspector General for 
Afghanistan Reconstruction. The Afghan opium poppy crop, providing 
the raw material for the bulk of the world's heroin supply, reached 
record levels in 2013 and is likely to climb even higher this year, 
the report finds.

"The recent record-high level of poppy cultivation calls into 
question the long-term effectiveness and sustainability" of the past 
decade of counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan, Special Inspector 
General John Sopko concludes. "Given the severity of the opium 
problem and its potential to undermine U.S. objectives in 
Afghanistan, I strongly suggest that your departments consider the 
trends in opium cultivation and the effectiveness of past 
counternarcotics efforts when planning future initiatives."

Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown, who has 
written extensively about the relationship between drug economies and 
military conflict, said, "A lot of these programs were 
counterproductive, and more importantly did not really address the 
structural drivers of (poppy) cultivation."

At its root, the Afghan poppy trade is a symptom of a much broader 
problem: Afghanistan is "an extremely weak state with an extremely 
weak economy, and huge insecurity," Felbab-Brown said. Given the 
uncertainties, many Afghan farmers turn to poppy because they know 
they can turn a profit off it.

Starting in 2009, U.S. policies focused on economic development and 
the structural drivers of poppy cultivation, but Felbab-Brown says 
implementation of these programs has been flawed.

Policymakers were showering Afghan provinces with money hoping to 
deliver results within six to 12 months but Felbab-Brown says 10 to 
15 years would be much more realistic considering how much of the 
Afghan economy depends on poppy cultivation.

"20 to 30 percent of Afghanistan's economy is linked to opium poppy," 
she said. By contrast, at the height of the cocaine boom in Colombia, 
3 to 5 percent of that economy depended on cocaine.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom