Growing Drug Trade in Afghanistan Threatens US Goals

Military leaders have cautioned that the drug trade in Afghanistan has grown in the past few years and threatens the stability and security of Afghanistan. As U.S. and NATO troops downsize it has become apparent that the drug trade is growing. Poppy cultivation brings in money for poor farmers in Afghanistan. The drug trade provides money for corrupt government officials, police and the Taliban. Security in some of the poppy growing areas has decreased making it even more difficult for those few Afghan police that are honest and try to keep the drug trade in check. Read more in "Resurgent Afghanistan drug trade threatening US goals, Pentagon warns", The Christian Science Monitor, January 20, 2014.