VIDEO: U.S. Military Allows Taliban Poppy Harvest

Friends of Ours ^ | 04/05/10 | Friends of Ours

[AtlasStalled]

It's harvest time for the poppy crop in Afghanistan, and although the fields are the primary source of revenue for the Taliban in financing its war against our soldiers, the U.S. military has ordered that the fields be left alone.

[coloradan]

In case anyone was wondering whether the War On (some) Drugs was a joke, this should remove all doubt.

[fso301]

The opium can afterall be sold into the legitimate medical market. There is a complexity to Afghanistan. Divide and conquor is a time honored strategy. Heroin is probably seen as a lesser problem than a resurgent Taliban/AQ and the Taliban are to my understanding primarily active in one area of Afghanistan. Warlords/drug lords/tribal cheiftans are behind violence in most regions. Enlisting help from the drug lords is probably not a bad strategy for the moment.

[ilovesarah2012]

I’m confused. I just saw reports this weekend of how the American military is destroying these “crops”.

[Blueflag]

lest we forget, our civilian ‘leaders’ would issue orders to the military regarding opium poppy crops.

don’t blame our military; instead look inside the zombieland of our state dept and our executive branch.

[Hulka]

They are.

And the State Dept INL Air-wing is doing a lot of the crop-dusting to eradicate the poppy's.

The farmers grow for cash and the crop is nearly ready for harvest, so, destroy the crop at its harvest time to ensure no additional crops grown before the season is over. One sweep and be done, rather than destroying multiple crops throughout the season. Also, pay the farmer once for their single crop rather than pay him multiple times, rather than deprive him of anything at all (bring him closer. . .bribe).

CNN and their usual half-informed “reporting.”