01 July 2006
so much for "mission accomplished" .....
‘A report by a Paris-based international security and policy advisory group, the Senlis Council, says that the US-led mission in Afghanistan is failing because US policies on eradicating the Afghan poppy crop aren't working.
The Independent reports that the group, which specializes in drug policies, predicts violence in the south of the country will escalate because the Taliban has been so effective at exploiting the anger "felt by farmers at the destruction of opium crops and by civilians who have suffered in US-led operations."
Lt-Gen David Richards, the British officer who is due to take over all NATO operations in Afghanistan with US troops under his command, warned the crop eradication program was driving farmers into the hands of the Taliban and the Western forces are creating new enemies.
Last week Hamid Karzai, the [Afghan] president, levelled unprecedented criticism at the US-led coalition's tactics, deploring the deaths of hundreds of his countrymen and women while the Taliban grows in strength. About 600 people have been killed this year.
The United Nations says more than 90 percent of the world's heroin supply comes from Afghanistan.’
US-Led Afghan Mission Is Failing
