Why does the USA not buy up the opium crop in Afghanistan ?
915714
Buying opium to stop farmers from growing it is like buying wheat to stop farmers from growing it.   Opium is nothing but an agricultural commodity, like any other.   All they will do is grow more & sell it to their private customers.  In fact the exporters will simply out bid the US government; which will have to raise its bid which will lead then to up their bid & we'll end up with a spiraling market; like with any other commodity in short supply.  More & more farmers will get into the market & things will be infinitely worse than it is now.     \n\nAs to the suppression cost; it is irrelevant because we are NOT suppressing the trade.  Every penny spent on fighting it is wasted.
1130366
PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN GEN.PARVEZ SAID AND I QUOTE," NEVER IN THE HISTORY SO MUCH WAS STOLEN BY SO FEW."DONT YOU AGREE WITH HIM. LOOK AT BENAZEER SHE BAGGED MAY BE A BILLION ,THAT IS DOLLARS NOT RUPEES .GEN ZIA AND THE BOYS MAY BE 10 BILLION 2 BILLION ALONE FROM LOOTING OF BCCI BANK,HALF A BILLION SELLING ARMS TO IRAN UNDER THE TABLE.EVEN THE SERVANTS DRIVE MERCEDES BENZEZ AND SERVANTS HAVE SERVANTS.NEVER MIND YAHYA KHAN OR AYUB KHAN,THE SHIT HIT THE FAN AFTER RUSSIANS INVADED AFGANISTAN AND LEFT.THE TALIBAN TOOK OVER THE CULTIVATION OF OPIUM AND ISI BRASS TOOK OVER HEROIN.NOW THAT IS SERIOUS MONEY.MAY BE 10 BILLION A YEAR,OK NOW MAY BE LESS BECAUSE AMERICANS ARE THERE.THE ARMY BRASS COMES FROM BIG LAND OWNER FAMILIES WHY THEY WILL LEAVE ALL THIS TO MULLAH POLITICIANS WHEN THEY CAN HAVE IT WITHOUT ANY PROBLEM.THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!
912535
Largely because just handing out aid fails to benefit the people who need it most, while food aid destroys what agriculture remains. If you can obtain corn, say, free of charge, then what incentive is there for farmers to grow it beyond their own requirement for subsistence? \n\nYou may recall that after the tsunami, the Thai prime minister said that they didn't need aid, what they needed was European markets opened to Thai goods. This is the real problem of protectionist blocks such as the European Union: Structures such as the Common Agricultural Policy create surpluses, which are dumped ont he world market at prices below the cost of production. This drives 'third' world farmers out of business. \n\nThe idea of 'fairtrade' is that it pays farmers directly for products from the 'third' world. Like the whole 'trade not aid' argument, it encourages economic growth and self-sufficiency rather than a reliance on aid. \n\nLinked below is an o-ed from the Guardian newspaper which outlines some of the points.
228823
Society and government have made two major errors in dealing with controlling drug addiction:\n\n1) They have set about controlling the drug use by limiting the source.  You have to limit the demand for controls to be effective.  By decreasing the supply, the demand (and price) is driven up, which escalates the profit and the traffic.\n\n2) In the “WAR on DRUGS” they refuse to accept casualties.  You cannot conduct any kind of effective warfare without accepting casualties.\n\nThe best way to handle the drug situation is to flood the market with easily-obtainable, cheap drugs.  If a bag of pot is only worth 40 cents, there isn’t any profit to be made and no interest in developing the markets.\n\nWhen stockpiles of drugs are discovered, they should be laced with strychnine and returned to the streets in mass quantities.  In a few short months of picking up bodies, the demand would cease because the addicts would either be dead or cured.  You wouldn’t be able to GIVE the stuff away, let alone SELL it!   \n\nEND of DRUG problem.  Accept the casualties, end the war and move on to something of more importance, like the national security or the world economy.\n\nJohnny
1157728
USA ( and a number of other countries ie France) stil pay large subsidies to their farmers and doesn't agree to other countries having subsiies - and not just developing ones - because this allows their farmers to keep their prices artifically low so that they can sell more and therefore drive more sales. if Other countries who can produce cheaper than the USA anyway had subsidies then US farmers would not be as wealthy as they are. \n\nI think that's how it works.\n\nAddtional:  This seems to have gone down the slope of "we can't support the rest of the world blah blah blah. All these comments add to the flavour around the world that Americans see themselves as the polcieman; that everything they believe is true should be put o&#92;upon the whole world and why should we help the poor. This is because if all the wealth of the world was $100  and there were only 100 people in the world, $95 would belong to SIX people and those Six would all be Americans. \n\nUSA is spending alot of money (trillions) on Wars it can't really justify simply to secure more wealth for itself.
766528
The US did not abandon Afghanistan, we are dropping millions of dollars into their infrastructure, NATO has taken over the daily operation of all the military personnel from all the nations who are participating, the same as they will in Iraq when it becomes a little more stable. America still has 1,3000 troops in Afghanistan, fighting the Taliban every day and the Afghan military is taking a much larger role in providing security for their Nation. There is no linkage because abandonment has not happened!
374327
Afghanistan is the world's number 1 opium exporter. I don't think the climate and ground is good for producing opium in Iraq and Iran. Sounds like someone was trying to sell propagranda by including Iraq and Iran in the same category as Afghanistan. Oh, well, I guess it's true as someone famous said, "Propaganda is the opium for the masses."
279853
Because of US' involvment in the Middle East and constant US attempts to install friendly govts in OPEC countries and overthrow unfriendly ones.\n\nHe made two requests that went unheeded: "arab oil for arab people" and "political independence from the west".\n\nBasically he did to US what US did to others.\nUS says: "No communism in South Vietnam"\nCommunists: "Pffft, the people want communism"\nUS: "But we don't" (US goes on and bombs the crap out of all of Vietnam, killing etc).\n\nBin Laden: "Leave arab states alone"\nUS: "Pffft, the arab want us!!"\nBin Laden: "No they don't, can't you read the -we don't want US here- banners?" (bin Laden goes on and gives americans a chance to rebuild WTC towers and Pentagon, hopefully with more architectural taste).
328057
illegal drugs are a much more profitable market skeem because it is grown so easily and vast that the government has no control over it, meaning they cant tax it. Making the farmer make a ton of money. Drugs like tobacco have so many regulations and things on them to keep their profit low and everything else really low. Since the government has no control over things they cant catch, they cant make money on it, meaning the farmers rack in the serious bucks
384856
The war in Afghanistan is morally ileagle for it should be termed aq real estate war due to the yanks wanting to build a oil pipeline through the country some years ago and were told by the Taliban no because they could get a better deal elsewhwere
611350
Of course not, but then Bush, Cheney, Halliburton and all the other energy and oil companies they gave contracts, in Afghanistan wouldn't have made as much MONEY $$$$ on the War there or in Iraq.
1120601
There's no need to "hold down" Afghanistan. That was the whole point of working with the Northern Alliance and other friendly forces in the first place. The Afghan National Army does a lot of the fighting now, with NATO air support and special ops assistance. The ANA pins down Taliban fighters, and then they can be destroyed from the air. The warlords still have a lot of men under arms, but they just need to be bribed or be allowed to trade in opium. If fighting season gets too intense, then it's going to end come winter in any case.
855979
The US is struggling because they did not have a good, sane reason to go to war in the first place and they certainly did not have an exit strategy.  Most  people forcasted that this would be another Vietnam quagmire.  And they were right.  Also the US government knew zip about the cultures of the countries they invaded.  Their philosophy of life is totally different from the west.   It is a shame that the leader of the US government is such a cowboy that he thinks the people in these countries are like the cattle on his ranch - just ready to be roped in.  Boy was he wrong.  And yes, the young men of the US and their families are paying dearly for his lack of judgement and his lack of education and foresight.
808157
Hey hey LBJ,  how many kids did you kill today?  It sounds like the same people running this one ran Vietnam.  Bush is not there to prevent disorder,but to  preserve it.  All so the plunder can continue while our military are security police for Halliburton and whatever other agents are there carrying out the plunder.  And don't forget we threw Afghanistan in as well.  Tell it like it is.  It does not exceed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but it is right up there on the scaremeter.  Well done!
1018415
We need abundant trade with China to finance Bush's stupid war in Iraq and just pay for all of the the out-of-control Republican spending we need China to purchase American debt.  So we turn a blind eye to that kind of thing - and Tibet and..
1039646
An emphasis on war policies is driven by business concerns....Imagine if Cheney was a real estate salesman....  ok we'd have to buy bombs, mobilize troops consult with the Carlise group... No .if realestate was our focus  we could buy Afghanistan for $8000 an acre, have a presence in the middle east and cut all the heroin use in the world...ummmmm    Know any real estate tycoons running for pres???
570657
They already are under the "protection" of the Taliban. All they want to do is make a living and have a quite life. So I doubt they will care whether it's Taliban or allied forces guarding them. \nThe problem is what to do with the crops the farmers produce opium Poppy's. If we try to get them to farm normal crops they won't make the money to survive and feed their families so some have suggested that we buy the poppy's off of them and use it to make morphine for third world hospitals to use. It' better than letting it flood the streets of Europe with heroin as it used for now!