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“Opium poppy cultivation in
Afghanistan reached a sobering record high in 2013,” said the UNODC
(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).
From a report on CNSnews.com from Dec.
2 by Ali Meyer, we learn that after twelve years of U.S. Occupation
in Afghanistan, the opium trade isn't diminishing -- but growing
stronger. In fact, Afghanistan, in the latest world-wide data on
opium-cultivation, dedicates more land to the cultivation of opium
than the rest of the world combined.
Afghanistan grew 209,000 hectares of
opium in 2013, breaking the previous high of 193,000 set in 2007. Put
into perspective, the year the U.S. Sent troops there in 2001,
Afghanistan grew a record low 7,606 hectares.
In May of this year, the UNODC's
“World Drug Report” gives the stats on the opium producing
countries for 2011. Afghanistan then had 131,000 hectares, followed
by Myanmar with 43,600, Mexico with 12,000, Lao People's Democratic
Republic with 4,100, Pakistan with 362, Columbia with 338, and
various other countries with 16,100 hectares.
U.S. Troops have also increased over
the years, when in 2002 there was 10,400 troops there, followed by
32,800 when Obama took office in 2009. After Obama took office, the
troops rose sharply to 98,000 in September 2010, and now in 2013
there are still 60,000 U.S. Troops there, according to a NATO report
in October of this year.
This information indicates America's
presence in Afghanistan is clearly not intended to curtail the opium
trade, but actually indicates it's helping to support the growth of
the drug trade. This contradiction to our “Drug War” at home,
seems hypocritical when many are in prisons for years because of the
use and sale of drugs derived from this poppy plant. A responsible
citizen would question our presence and use of American troops in
Afghanistan, asking is it worth the lives of our troops to support
this destructive drug trade?
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