Drug Trade Blooms in Afghanistan

Staff / Truthdig Aug 28, 2007 More than 93 percent of the world's opiates are now grown in Afghanistan, with an opium crop that has doubled in the last two years. According to the executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, "No other country beside China in the 19th Century ever had such a large amount of land dedicated to illegal activities." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Robert Scheer — Afghanistan: High on Opium, Not Democracy

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Sep 6, 2006 While Bush was distracted with Iraq, the patrons of terrorism were very much in business back where the 9/11 attack was hatched, turning Afghanistan into a narco-state that provides a lucrative source of cash for the "evildoers" Bush forgot about. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Taliban Resurgence Produces Record Opium Harvest in Afghanistan

Staff / Truthdig Sep 2, 2006 Opium production in Afghanistan is at the highest level ever recorded and shows an increase of 50 percent from last year. The increase in opium cultivation is a result of the resurgence of Taliban rebels. The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said in a statement: ?The southern part of Afghanistan was displaying the ominous hallmarks of incipient collapse, with large-scale drug cultivation and trafficking, insurgency and terrorism, crime and corruption.? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )