US gives up on eradicating Afghanistan’s opium
So far, eradication efforts have merely fueled the Taliban’s coffers and driven civilian farmers further outside of U.S. influence. Because of this, the United States has formed a new strategy in the fight against the crop: They are giving up.I'm sure the Taliban gets a cut, since they control much of the countryside. But I'm also sure they are not the only ones. They story estimates that "The Taliban [...] derives up to $100 million a year from the poppy harvest by taxing farmers and charging safe passage fees". That will buy a lot of weapons to be used against our troops but is still a small fraction of the money generated by the heroin trade.
