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Afghanistan Supplies 93% of World's Opiates

Posted Aug 28, 07 6:47 AM CDT in World 

(Newser) – Afghanistan's opium production has soared over the last year and the country now supplies 93% of the world's opiates. Most of the poppies are grown along the country's southern border with Pakistan, where the insurgency is strong, security is weak, and the Taliban continues to use its drug profits to buy guns and keep itself running, reports the BBC.

Government corruption is considered a major factor in perpetuating the drug trade, but it's also alluring as one of the few routes to wealth in a desperately poor country, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. "Leaving aside 19th Century China, no country in the world has ever produced narcotics on such a deadly scale," the report states

Source BBC

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An Afghan National Army soldier is seen destroying the opium poppies in a field, during a poppy eradication campaign in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April. 2, 2007. Afghanistan...   (Associated Press)
An Afghan farmer collects resin from poppies on a opium poppy field in Bati Kot district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday, April 24, 2007. U.N. figures to be released in September...   (Associated Press)
An Afghan boy looks on as a poppy flower is in full bloom in poppy fields in the Rhodat district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 11, 2007. Afghanistan produced dramatically...   (Associated Press)
An Afghan police officer stands guard in poppy fields during a poppy eradication campaign in the Rhodat district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 11, 2007. Afghanistan produced...   (Associated Press)
Poppies   (Associated Press)
A British soldier of Second Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, patrols near Poppy filed in Sangin , a district Helmand province, Afghanistan, Sunday, April . 22, 2007. NATO and Afghan troops launched their...   (Associated Press)
An Afghan villager employed as an opium poppy destroyer, right, is seen during a poppy eradication campaign in the Rhodat district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, April 11,...   (Associated Press)
An Afghan points to the resin from poppy on a poppy field in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, April 9, 2007. Afghanistan is one of top producers...   (Associated Press)
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Afghanistan  • Taliban  • drugs  • heroin  • opium  • poppies


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