The us was using opium as a weapon of war against russia and iran. Its well known and the public health concequences in both those countries were horrific

But since mexico has orders of mag itude more state capacity than the taliban their failure to solve opium problem makes one almost certain the us goverment is also behind that.

[–] BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 year ago (6 children)

You got a source on that? Last I checked Opium is an excellent cash crop that the Taliban used to fund their guerilla war with the US. Now that the Americans are out there is no point to keep growing it.

[–] airlinefood@hexbear.net 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Last I checked Opium is an excellent cash crop that the Taliban used to fund their guerilla war with the US. Now that the Americans are out there is no point to keep growing it.

You got a source on that?

[–] BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Here you go.

Edit: Oh I may have missread that. Here is a source for the taliban using it as funding.

[–] GaveUp@hexbear.net 52 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The source for that claim is entirely from the US state department. Not to mention some expert disputed that claim

"The estimated all-time high for opium production was set in 2017 at 9,900 tons worth some $1.4 billion in sales by farmers or roughly 7% of Afghanistan's GDP, the UNODC reported."

"Mansfield says his field studies show the most the Taliban can earn from illicit opiates is about $40 million annually"

So the Taliban made at most 40 million per year while the entire country (under US occupation and control) made over 1 billion per year

load more comments (4 replies)