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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (27140)	10/5/2004 2:27:42 AM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

The Taliban stopped opium production."to the amazement of most outside observers, the Taliban made the ban stick, using their brutal reputation to scare farmers into complying. In one year, the opium harvest fell 98 percent, from more than 4000 tons in 2000 to 80 tons this year. The number of acres under cultivation dropped from more than 200,000 to less than 20,000. Even suspicious U.S. officials were impressed. Using satellite spy photos, they established that poppy cultivation had in fact plummeted. "This was something unprecedented in the world's history," says a State Department analyst who tracks the Afghan drug trade. Now, with the Taliban on the cusp of defeat, and much of the country seemingly on the verge of chaos, the drug trade may once again flourish. Opium production could rise even if the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, now closely allied with the United States, gains control over large parts of the country. Last year, even as the Taliban outlawed opium cultivation, the Alliance continued to allow it. In fact, poppy cultivation tripled in the areas controlled by the Alliance. With Taliban-controlled regions growing so little opium, the region produced more than 80 percent of Afghan opium, accordin to the UN. "From the point of view of the opium trade," says a U.N. anti-drug official, "the Northern Alliance is not better than the Taliban." Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbors are also worried that the Taliban's demise will worsen their own drug problems. Although little opium is grown in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, and Turkmenistan, these countries face serious harm from heroin. With largely unguarded borders, as well as severely under-equipped and underpaid police forces, these countries have become the favored route for moving heroin to the Balkans, Europe and Russia. The trade has spread corruption, addicts and AIDS. cbsnews.com