Government’s Own Report Shows Tax Dollars Spent in Afghanistan Have Boosted Opium Production
A report from the U.S. government admits that after spending $8.62 billion to eliminate opium production in Afghanistan, the U.S. actually contributed to it.
By Rachel Blevins
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
August 12, 2018
As the longest war in United States history approaches yet another anniversary, the U.S. is being forced to admit that after pouring billions of dollars into “counternarcotics efforts” in Afghanistan, the result has been an overwhelming increase in opium production.
The recent report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reveals that U.S. taxpayers spent $8.62 billion in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2017—solely on combatting poppy cultivation and drug production. The result was an absolute failure, and the report confirmed that “Afghanistan remains the world’s largest opium producer, and opium poppy is the country’s largest cash crop.”
“SIGAR’s analysis revealed that no counternarcotics program led to lasting reductions in poppy cultivation or opium production. Eradication efforts had no lasting impact, and eradication was not consistently conducted in the same geographic locations as development assistance. Alternative-development programs were often too short-term, failed to provide sustainable alternatives to poppy, and sometimes even contributed to poppy production.”
The report also claimed that “the Afghan drug trade has undermined reconstruction and security, including by financing insurgent groups and fueling government corruption.”
The reality is that if the $8.62 billion the U.S. has spent on countering drug production and trade in Afghanistan has actually helped it immensely, then the U.S. is literally undermining the “reconstruction” efforts it claims to have spent the last 17 years pursuing.
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