Latest Afghan export: How to produce opium

Intrepid reporter Patrick Cockburn finds that Afghans are helping Iraqi farmers grow poppy and produce opium, as traditional crops of oranges and pomegranates prove to be insufficient to provide a living wage. This trend has now moved to Diyala province, where al-Qaeda has a strong hold and has successfully fought back U.S. and Iraqi military forces.

In the absence of governmental support, local farmers have been unable to compete with cheap imported fruits and vegetables and rising cost of fertilizer. Al-Qaeda is apparently in charge of many of the new opium farms, sometimes taking the land of farmers that it has killed.

Comments

[peter casier]

The link to the newspaper article is broken.

p.