U.S.: 'bad news' in Afghan drug war

[ProSense]

U.S.: 'bad news' in Afghan drug war

By FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 31, 5:31 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The U.S.-backed strategy to fight Afghanistan's massive drug trade has been unsuccessful in stemming opium cultivation, which is expected to hit record levels this year, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

"It's bad news and we need to improve it," said Thomas Schweich, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for international narcotics. "But we don't feel it's a hopeless situation, and we don't think the overall strategy is the wrong strategy."

Schweich spoke to reporters as Western officials in Afghanistan were forecasting a possible 40 percent increase this year in land under opium poppy cultivation, despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent in counternarcotics efforts.

Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin supply, and the drug trade has had a corrosive effect on President Hamid Karzai's struggling government.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060831/ap_on_go_ot/us_afghan_opium

Pretty sure the Bush cabal's response will be: "History will judge this administrations' actions favorably."

[RufusEarl]

1. Why would anyone keep the present strategy, if it's not working?

"But we don't feel it's a hopeless situation, and we don't think the overall strategy is the wrong strategy."

This tells me they aren't really trying to curb to opium production in Afghanistan, i suspects they are trying to keep the war lords happy.

[leesa]

2. Too funny! As though the Afghan opium trade isn't the US petty cash box!

It's one of the main reasons we invaded. The Taliban had shut down our opium fields there.