Middle East
Publisher:
Author: Alfred W McCoy - Asia Times
5 Apr 2010
The opium wars in Afghanistan
From its roots in the CIA's covert battle against Soviet occupation in the 1970s, through decades of war that fertilized it, poppy cultivation has transformed Afghanistan into an opium-dependent state supplying 90% of the world's heroin. Support for a return to traditional agriculture can break the stranglehold - and be cheaper in every way than a military solution.