Afghanistan Becomes A Tragic Failure

Actually, the front page article in the New York Times had this banal headline: "Pentagon Sees Antidrug Effort In Afghanistan." The story details how the military -- which is loathe to involve itself in fighting the drug war around the world for various reasons -- is now getting intimately involved in Afghanistan.

That bland intro obscures the real and tragic news from one of Bush's crowning "successes." According to the New York Times, the latest harvest of opium and poppy "far exceed even the most alarming predictions." The poppy harvest alone increased 64% in one year. Furthermore, the Defense Dept. has increased by 400% the money it's requesting for this campaign from the year before, from about $60 million to $257 million.

Here's the money quote:

"There is wide consensus in the government and the military and among humanitarian organizations that the drug trade now threatens all of America's goals in Afghanistan," says the NYT.

It's been widely reported that at least one-third of the country is controlled by the Taliban (hey, didn't we destroy them?) or drug lords. Only a few major cities are safely in the hands of Karzai. The UN reports that Afghanistan is now responsible for 87% of the world's opium production. So how exactly is Afghanistan a rousing success in Bush's eyes?