Afghanistan and Opium: Breaking the Habit

Abstract

Afghanistan has the dubious distinction of being the largest opium-producing country in the world. Seventy-five percent of the world's heroin which is obtained from opium poppies comes from Afghanistan. Opium exports brought Afghanistan $1.2 billion last year equaling the total of international aid to the country for the same period. Although the Afghan government and Islamic religion disapprove of growing poppies, other major influences-economic social and political-promote poppy farming. The United States government has an interest in controlling the influx of heroin into this country as well as an interest in a strong stable Afghan government and a stable south Asia region. This paper will describe the background leading to Afghanistan's position as the world's leader in opium production explore possible United States responses to this troubling situation and recommend a course of action.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 03, 2004
Accession Number
ADA423712

Entities

People

  • Thomas H. Hueg

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Air Force
  • Commerce
  • Crime
  • Drug Abuse
  • Drug Trafficking
  • Economic Systems
  • Governments
  • International Relations
  • Military Organizations
  • National Governments
  • Security
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.