The government then adopted its current poppy eradication strategy, destroying poppy fields, but the struggle would be a long one, Karzai warned. "Now we know: it will take a number of years — with the continued help of the international community" (Traci Hukill, U.N. Wire, June 15).
Australian "60 Minutes" did a story on this (supposedly expecting to produce a feelgood story about slowing drug production). What they found was that the authorities went to farms, made a big fuss and ploughed in the poppies, but only ½acre, then they packed up and moved on to the next farm, leaving many acres of maturing poppies on each one.
The simple fact is that poppies are too important to the economy of Afghanistan for any meaningful intervention by Afghan authorities.
Cheers Russell C.
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