U.K. Under Fire Over Afghan Opium

UK under fire over Afghan opium

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?fee...tain-opium.xml

LONDON, June 30 (UPI) -- Home Secretary Charles Clarke has admitted Britain is not doing enough to curb Afghan opium production following reports of record cultivation levels.

The United Nations World Drug Report, released Wednesday, says poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose by 16 percent in 2004, covering 131,000 hectares.

The Conservative Party accused the government of failing in the fight opium. Conservative Shadow Home Secretary David Davis told Parliament: "It is no wonder the number of hard drug users in this country (Britain) now tops a million people and is increasing."

"Labor have not just failed in the war on drugs, they haven't even begun to fight it," he said.

The U.N. report said poppies are now being grown in areas that had been free of opium cultivation.

Opium production has boomed in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, which banned cultivation.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

Now that's interesting isn't it... the Taliban banned cultivation, essentially destroying the opium trade in Afghanistan, and under U.S./U.K. rule, culmination has increased by 16%. I wonder why that is...

And another good question is... how on earth did the Taliban manage to ban culmination with their powerful army of trucks, and the United States, with their $400Bil Defense Budget, couldn't?