Five years ago this month, Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, was liberated from the tyranny of the Taliban regime and its "guests," al-Qaida. Five years later, Afghanistan, and indeed the world, lives under the threat of another brutal tyrant: the narcotics trade and the terrorism it funds. Despite this threat, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who once so passionately announced that counter-narcotics was a top concern, appears to have wilted on the anti-drug message while the opium poppy, from which heroin is derived, flourishes to record levels - the area cultivated increased an astonishing 60 percent over last year, according to the United Nations. It makes little difference to most Americans whether a junkie in Hamburg, London or Moscow dies in an alley with a needle in his arm. Europe, after all, is where the vast majority of Afghan heroin winds up.
Karzai Weak on Afghanistan’s Opium Trade
