Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan Climbs Despite Efforts

The anti-drug campaign in Afghanistan is not making progress.  In fact, the situation has gotten worse.  Coalition forces are focusing on fighting the Taliban, farmers are making money growing the crop, and warlords, corrupt government bureaucrats and the extended Karzai family continue to get rich.  Afghanistan produces 85 % of the opium in the world.  Stopping the poppy growing has been somewhat successful in the northern and eastern provinces where security is better than in the south and west of Afghanistan where the Taliban rule the countryside.  Read more in "As opium prices soar and allies focus on Taliban, Afghan drug war stumbles", The Washington Post, January 14, 2010.