The major legacy of the West’s war in Afghanistan has been a dramatic rise in production and use of narcotics in the country and across the world, a political activist tells Press TV.
“All we’ve seen to be perfectly candid about it, over the past 13 years is a 40-fold increase in opium cultivation and the explosion of the heroin epidemic in and around Afghanistan,” said Rick Rozoff from Stop NATO International Network in a Monday interview.
The activist noted that the boom in Afghanistan’s narcotics production has affected the lives of millions of people in India, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and other parts of the world, adding, “This is all I’m afraid the West has to boast of in terms of accomplishment in Afghanistan.”
“The only thing they effectively have done is officiate over an explosion of opium cultivation, the deaths of tens and thousands of Afghans, including thousands of civilians, and the displacement of not only hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Afghans,” Rozoff said.
Narcotics trade flourished in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, who earned part of their funding through the lucrative drug business.
The United Nations reports, however, indicate that narcotics production and drug smuggling have increased in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
Since 2001, the opium cultivation has increased over 4,400% across Afghanistan. Under the US-led NATO forces, Afghanistan became world’s largest opium producer, accounting for 93% of global opium production.
In 2006, the United Nations estimated that 52% of Afghanistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) came entirely from drugs. Despite words from Washington DC about “fighting terrorism” and a “war on drugs,” since the Taliban was overturned in Afghanistan, narcotic drugs, and all the dangers associated with them, are on the rise.
ASH/HGH/SS
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