Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan: A Global, Strategic Nemesis

摘要

The United States has taken on the responsibility to stay the course on a long-term basis to assist the Afghan people to rebuild their country. Part of this responsibility will require the United States to provide leadership in the region and in neighboring regions on issue that may have strategic, global consequences. These issues include the proliferation of the illicit drug industry, drug addiction, the spread of HIV/AlDS, emergence of transnational organized crime and terrorist structures. All of these issues in the region have a common element with its genesis in Afghanistan. Afghanistan provides approximately 70-80 percent of the world's supply of opium. Now that the United States is the facilitator of Afghanistan's future, it will need to assist the Afghan government in establishing policies that will convince the Afghan people to move away from cultivating the poppy and aid the region in solving the problems that emanate from her poppy fields.