A U.S. soldier from the 101st Airborne Division destroys opium poppies growing in a field in Khost province, Afghanistan, in 2008. Rafiq Maqbool/AP
U.S. dumps $8.4b in Afghanistan to fight drugs, but opium production jumped
A years-long, $8.4 billion U.S.-funded effort to eradicate drug production in Afghanistan has failed miserably and now the war-torn nation is the world's "global leader" in opium cultivation and production, according to a federal audit.
A new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction revealed Thursday that opium production in Afghanistan is at a 12-year high.
"The U.S. has provided $8.4 billion for counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan, and the country is the global leader in illicit opium cultivation and production," the quarterly report concluded.
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Like so many U.S. taxpayer funded projects in Afghanistan, the anti-drug effort has been troubled, but the new numbers on spending and drug production show that the eradication effort has failed at a huge cost.
Much of the money has been spent to help troops eradicate drugs and also to provide farmers with alternative crops. The money has even been used to buy new tractors.
But there are about 560,000 acres involved in opium cultivation that produces over 13 million tons of the drug, according to page 117 of the report. Production jumped 14.5 percent in 2014.
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