Quote Originally Posted by human8
I think it needs to be addressed that despite the rhetoric, which is focused here on politics, the major reason we are in Afghanistan is the opium poppies.I mean, is that way off base? Seems it's more about heroin and opium than any political ideology.

Mmmm.... probably off base. Afghanistan has been at the opium production for hundreds of years, possibly thousands (I took a history course on this 6 years ago, so I'm pretty rusty). Right now they're mostly allowing opium production to continue, which I actually agree with since wiping out the crops indiscriminately, war-on-drugs style, would turn the population against us.

The government likes to tell us that all drug-crop owners are scary bad guys, out to undermine the human soul; but the reality is an impoverished population that would starve without their cocao/opium/cannabis crops. I think the ticket here is to help them develop a new economy based on legitimate goods to feed their families, which I'm pretty sure they're doing.