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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom