A new economy blooms in Afghanistan

If you remember when we first invaded Afghanistan, there was a lot talk from the Bush administration about how this was going to be an invasion done right. There would be security, freedom, new infrastructure, and the economy would blossom. Then, after we invaded Iraq, Afghanistan ended up with little security, freedom, or new infrastructure. And the only part of the economy blossoming was poppy growing, which provides the raw material for the international opium and heroin trade. And then we exported the War on Drugs to Afghanistan.

So, how’s that working out?

Well, it’s caused a lot of anger and resentment from farmers just trying to earn a living, and in general, little progress has been made in the Just Say No crusade. But far northern Balkh province has been pointed to by American officials as a success story in the war on poppies. And it’s true, farmers there have turned their back on traditional poppy growing– now they’re growing cannabis instead.

A New York Times reporter visited the cannabis plantations of Balkh, and came away very impressed. The situation can best be summed up by this quote from a cannabis sharecropper, describing his field of plants, some of which are nine feet tall.

“This is nothing,” he said, gesturing toward the towering plants. “If you give it real fertilizer, you’d see how tall it grows!”

Who would have guessed that some of the blowback from President Bush’s wars would smell like a bong?

Tags: Afghanistan, Balkh, cannabis, drug trade, heroin, new york times, opium, President Bush, war on drugs