Political Instability

Southwest Asia: British Conservatives Call for Afghan Opium to Be Licensed, Converted to Pharmaceuticals, Not Destroyed

Britain's Conservative Party has joined the call to license Afghan opium. The move comes just days after the British Medical Association called for it to be converted into diamorphine (heroin) for use by the National Health Service.

Feature: Afghan Opium Dilemma Sparks New Calls for Alternative Development, "Normalizing" the Poppy Crop

While the US using tried-and-failed eradication schemes on the Afghan opium trade, others including the UN and World Bank are calling for smarter alternative development. Others are going even further.

Southwest Asia: US Drug Czar Announces Afghanistan Will Spray Opium Poppies

With Afghan opium production going through the roof, US drug czar John Walters announced Saturday that the Afghan government would begin using herbicides to eradicate the poppy crop. But the Afghan government hasn't officially agreed yet.

Feature: World Bank-UN Report Offers Grim Assessment of Afghanistan Opium Battle, Says Winning Will Take Decades, Not Years

A new report from the World Bank and UN is just the latest to warn of the difficulties facing drug warriors in Afghanistan. The report is comprehensive, exacting, and grim.

Southwest Asia: Leading Scholar Takes Senate Foreign Relations Committee to School on Afghan Drug Trade

Professor Barnett Rubin gives the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a tutorial on the economic and political consequences of prohibition when it comes to Afghan opium.

Feature: Afghan Opium Crop Hits Record as Violence Increases

The West faces a crisis in Afghanistan, as opium cultivation rises to all-time record levels and a reinvigorated Taliban insurgency takes on NATO and the US.

Editorial: It's Time to Get Real About Opium in Afghanistan

Opium eradication is a dangerous, dead-end road. It's time for a little realism, for the sake of Afghanistan's and global security.

Web Scan: WOLA on Mexico Drug Wars, Sentencing Project and Others Report to UN Human Rights Committee, CURE on Prisons in OAS

WOLA on Mexican Drug Trade Violence and Corruption, Sentencing Project and Others Report to UN Human Rights Committee, CURE on Prisons in OAS

Afghanistan, Plan Colombia and Drug Eradication: Problems and Solutions

Recent increases in opium production in Afghanistan presents a Catch-22 to U.S. policymakers. On the one hand, a November 2006 United Nations and World Bank report found that forced eradication of opium crops is driving poor Afghans into the hands of the Taliban, empowering crime syndicates and destabilizing the country. On the other hand, doing nothing about the heroin trade allows major drug traffickers to enrich themselves unfettered. Is there a third option?

Afghan President Says Opium Production Threatens Nation

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