Afghanistan: Narcotics and U.S. Policy (2004)
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/39906.pdfAcross Afghanistan, regional warlords, criminal organizations, and corrupt government officials continue to exploit opium production and trafficking as reliable sources of revenue and patronage, which perpetuates the threat these groups pose to the country’s fragile internal security and the legitimacy of its embryonic democratic government. The trafficking of Afghan drugs also appears to provide financial and logistical support to a range of extremist groups operating in and around Afghanistan, including remnants of the Taliban regime and Al Qaeda operatives.
Из интервью официального представителя НАТО:
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/opinions_62372.htmQ: Two questions, one on Afghanistan and the drug production. Right around Marjah now, apparently they're starting to harvest the poppies. Is NATO doing anything to prevent that?
JAMES APPATHURAI: We are in a counterinsurgency situation and the priority in Marjah and throughout Afghanistan is to create the conditions in which the average Afghan at the very least does not support the Taliban or other insurgents, and to a greater and greater extent, places his confidence in the government - his or her elected government - to provide a better future for him and her and their children.
So we cannot be in a situation where we remove the only, and in most cases, only source of income for people who live in the second poorest country in the world, without being able to provide them an alternative. That is simply not possible.
Получается занятная ситуация, с одной стороны США борются с Талибаном, Аль-Каедой и прочими международными террористами.
А с другой - поддерживают их источники финансирования.