Poppy Crop Now Targeted in Afghan War

[unhappycamper]

Poppy Crop Now Targeted in Afghan War
February 09, 2009
Chicago Tribune

NAD ALI DISTRICT, Afghanistan -- The Afghan police drove the tractors efficiently, turning over the soil and the green shoots and within minutes destroying almost 4 acres of this country's most valuable crop -- poppies, used to produce the world's largest supply of heroin.

Off in the distance, a ring of Afghan and U.S. soldiers protected the police, part of a new program in troublesome Helmand province that marks the first time international forces have been this involved in poppy eradication since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

On that perimeter, 1st Lt. William Sandell, an Illinois National Guard soldier from Johnsburg, Ill., waited for the enemy, knowing it could be just about anyone. Farmers, Taliban, residents of a nearby village -- no one from around here wants the poppy crop destroyed. The operation had been attacked four of the previous five days.

"If we continue to get hit every other day, we might get a little anxious," said a taciturn Sandell, 27, a seminary student back home.

His words last week seemed almost prophetic Sunday as another Illinois National Guard team operating in the same district was hit by a roadside bomb. Two Guard soldiers, an Afghan police officer and an Afghan interpreter were killed, authorities said.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/poppy-crop-now-targeted-in-afghan-war.html