"Sixty percent of all opiates in the world are produced in the area that the British forces are responsible for," said Viktor Ivanov.

"There were 25 hectares of opium in 2004. Now there are 90,000. This shows you how effective they are."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Heroin-Russia-Blames-Coalition-Over-Afghanistan-Drug-Supply-Increase/Article/200912315500702?f=rss


Those hectare figures can't be right, can they?

I've long thought that one of the best ways to do Afghanistan and ourselves a huge favour is to buy the opium from them.
There was, I seem to recall, a global opiate shortage for medicine.

I've long thought that one of the best ways to do Afghanistan and ourselves a huge favour is to buy the opium from them.

Those hectare figures can't be right, can they?

As for Russia, well they're just indulging in the old nationalistic game of "blaming your problems on someone else". An old tactic, dusted off for the 21st century.

Better still, we should grow all our own in Europe under the CAP.

Better still, we should grow all our own in Europe under the CAP. Then the farmers in Afghanistan would be able to earn a living growing food crops (currently impossible due to us dumping our subsidised produce on the world market), and would not be able to earn one growing opiates.

During the Taliban rule, Afghanistan saw a bumper opium crop of 4,600 metric tons in 1999,[7]. In July 2000, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar declared that growing poppies was un-Islamic, resulting in one of the world's most successful anti-drug campaigns. As a result of this ban, opium poppy cultivation was reduced by 91% from the previous year's estimate of 82,172 hectares. The ban was so effective that Helmand Province, which had accounted for more than half of this area, recorded no poppy cultivation during the 2001 season.[8]
[edit] Present War in Afghanistan
Opium production levels for 2005-2007

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, a combination of U.S. CIA and military forces (US and allied powers), in support of the Northern Alliance, invaded Afghanistan.

By November 2001, the collapse of the economy and the scarcity of other sources of revenue forced many of the country's farmers to resort back to growing opium for export.(1,300 km² in 2004 according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.)

In December 2001, a number of prominent Afghans met in Bonn, Germany, under United Nations (UN) auspices to develop a plan to reestablish the State of Afghanistan, including provisions for a new constitution and national elections. As part of that agreement, the United Kingdom (UK) was designated the lead country in addressing counter-narcotics issues in Afghanistan. Afghanistan subsequently implemented its new constitution and held national elections. On December 7, 2004, Hamid Karzai was formally sworn in as president of a democratic Afghanistan."[9]

Two of the following three growing seasons saw record levels of opium poppy cultivation. Corrupt officials may have undermined the government's enforcement efforts. Afghan farmers suggested that "government officials take bribes for turning a blind eye to the drug trade while punishing poor opium growers".[10]