Afghanistan War News Updates -- April 1, 2010

TO AFGHANISTAN - U.S. Marines board a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft flight from Camp Manas, Krygzstan, to Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, March 24, 2010. The Marines, assigned to the 1st Marine Division's Headquarters Battalion, are deploying to Afghanistan to support the International Security Assistance Force. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Sarah B. Novotny

Harvesting Democracy in Afghanistan -- Time Magazine

We flew into Marjah over a patchwork of poppy fields — not exactly a sea of poppies, but plenty of them. It was two weeks before the harvest, and the last blossoms were floating away in the dusty haze of Helmand province, leaving the prohibitively weird-looking, blue-gray bulbs bald and ready for processing, like an army of alien vegetative creatures. We landed in a wheat field just across the road from the district governor's pathetic headquarters. It was Day 45 after the operation to retrieve Marjah from the Taliban had begun, and the highest-ranking U.S. military official, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was paying a congratulatory visit to the area.

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More News On Afghanistan

Afghanistan war: Battle for Kandahar as much political as military -- Christian Science Monitor
Q+A - NATO sees Kandahar battle as Afghan turning point -- Reuters

UK soldier killed in Afghanistan -- BBC
Bicycle bomb kills 13 in southern Afghanistan -- USA Today/AP
Bombing kills 13 in Afghan village -- L.A. Times
17 reported dead in south Afghan blast -- AP

Afghanistan's New Bumper Drug Crop: Cannabis -- Time Magazine
UN: Afghanistan is World's Top Hashish Producer -- Voice of America
Afghanistan Has World Lead in Hashish Production, UN Reports -- Business Week/Bloomberg
U.N.: Afghanistan 'world's biggest producer of hashish' -- CNN
Afghanistan world’s top cannabis source - U.N. -- RAWA
UN: Afghanistan Is World's Largest Hashish Producer -- Radio Free Europe
Afghanistan now world's top cannabis source: U.N. -- Reuters

Karzai lashes out at West over Afghan elections -- Reuters
Afghan president blames foreigners for vote fraud -- AP
Afghan parliament's lower house rejects Karzai election proposals -- Washington Post
Lawmakers Resist Karzai’s Move on Election Panel -- New York Times

Hamid Karzai’s brother to stay in power despite heroin trade claims -- Times Online
Afghanistan's only rock band thrives in Kabul -- New York Times
U.S. campaign to reform Kandahar is rife with pitfalls -- David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion
The U.S. Timetable Isn't Right for Afghanistan -- Wall Street Journal