Afghan farmers work at a poppy field in Jalalabad province, May 5, 2012.
New York Times: Bountiful Afghan Opium Harvest Yields Profits for the Taliban
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — It is spring that determines how a year turns out, according to an Afghan proverb. And if the Helmand poppy fields this spring are any indication, the Taliban will have a very good year.
As the opium harvest winds down across Helmand Province, Afghanistan’s largest in territory and poppy cultivation, farmers and officials are reporting high yields. The skies were generous with heavy rainfall, and the Afghan government with its cancellation of annual eradication campaigns. It had lost much of the territory in Helmand to the Taliban anyway.
So it was with peace of mind that farmers, and thousands of seasonal laborers who had traveled to Helmand, scraped the gum from the opium bulbs. Taliban fighters were just around the corner to lend a hand — and to receive their share of wages and taxes, in cash or kind. The crowded fields amounted to an insurgent recruiter’s dream.
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WNU Editor: But while the U.S. and the Afghan forces have failed in eradicating the opium crop, opium growers and the Taliban are now facing a deadlier and more determined foe .... ISIS loyalists targeting opium and heroin production in Afghanistan: Report (Khaama Press). More here .... Islamic State Eradicating Afghan Poppy Crops (VOA).
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