Another Blair Failure

[sir.prize]

Most of the worldwide production of illegal heroin, the drug refined from opium, comes from Afghanistan, and the then Prime Minister Tony Blair cited this as a reason for the war in 2001, calling the drugs trade a part of the Taliban regime that "we should seek to destroy".

The UK took a lead role in counter-narcotics from the beginning, and sent troops to Helmand in 2006 partly because this was the largest area of poppy cultivation.

2013 crop is expected to be the biggest ever.

Did Blair really believe our troops could make a difference or was he under the influence?

[Titehead]

His Tonyness would say anything to be able to go in guns blazing

[jake-the-peg]

Sorry - you think we went to war in Afghanistan over drugs?

[jake-the-peg]

Oh it's a DM story!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102158/Heroin-production-Afghanistan-RISEN-61.html

[sir.prize]

No jake - I don't.

Tony Blair gave it as a reason for the war.

[youngmafbog]

I thought he gave other reasons too, but maybe my memory fails me.

[sir.prize]

Jake - also the BBC, the Guardian, New Statesman, the Telegraph and the Independent.

And of course the DM.

[jim360]

It would be an understatement to say that things haven't gone as planned. I think though that this was less an argument for not going in to Afghanistan in the first place, and more one for doing it properly. Whatever that means. Doing too much at once by going into Iraq too, perhaps, didn't help - although I'm not even opposed to that war. More effort was needed from the start to engage with the People of Afghanistan.

[LazyGun]

He did not give that as the purpose of the invasion of Afghanistan, although he may have tried to suggest this would be an additional bonus of such an invasion.

Except that it would not have been. Ironically enough, Afghanistans opium production was at an all time low under Taliban rule...

[Zeuhl]

I always preferred Lionel anyway

[Graham-W]

The problem, as I understand it, is if the farmers refuse to grow the poppies and harvest the opium and plants food crops instead, the drugs barons torch the food crops and threaten the farmers families. The farmer and family then have nothing to eat or trade with. Next season they will grow poppies.
Until the barons, factories (that convert the opium into heroine) or the export routes are stopped nothing can be done to slow the export of this drug.

[Old_Geezer]

Surely the aim was that the Taliban didn't profit. Is that still the case ?
Problem is that one needs to offer the natives an alternative way to make money. Poppies can be a good cash crop.

[jake-the-peg]

Blair was echoing the US rhetoric at the time

In fact Heroin supply from Afghanistan was at an all time low in 2000 as the Taliban were cracking down on it with help from the UN

Islamic states aren't big on the production of heroin !

The Americans invaded to hit back at Al-Qaeda after 9/11 - we went along to make sure we were still tight with the Americans.

Any nonsense about drugs as a motivation is completely ridiculous.

This spin from the Mail is because there is about to be a humilliating retreat from Afghanistan shortly followed by a bloody civil war.

The Mail are trying to make sure that Tony Blair and not David Cameron is blamed for it

Despite the fact that the Tories backed this country's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan - something they keep rather quiet about!

[mushroom25]

//Ironically enough, Afghanistans opium production was at an all time low under Taliban rule... //

indeed, but dried opium, unlike most agricultural products, can easily be stored for long periods without refrigeration or other expensive equipment. so the taliban (and anyone else who had their own stash) stood to make a great deal from a taliban-induced shortage of fresh product.

[LazyGun]

@ Mushroom true enough, but I have not seen any evidence to support that. What has happened is that with the rise of the warlords, farmers have been positively encouraged at the point of a gun to grow Opium.

I remember it as being sold as kind of a side benefit in order to persuade or mollify those who raised doubts about us going into Afghanistan. And I am no expert on the drugs trade, but I haven't seen any evidence that Opium and Heroin availability has gone down in the UK or US - but I am prepared to be corrected on that..

[Quizmonster]

I never understood why we didn't just buy the opium-poppy crop and use it for genuine medical treatments which would have been worthwhile for all of us rather than just the junkies and drug-barons.

[Gromit]

Blair made a speech to the Labour Party Conference a few weeks after we invaded Afghanistan and he vowed to wipe out the drugs coming from that country. He did not fail, because that was never the policy. If was a lie. Rather than destroy the poppy crop, British soldiers were instructed to leave it alone. In some cases, it is alleged that were crops were accidently damaged during fighting, the farmers were compensated by us.

The reason the trade has increased is purely economical. The area used to grow wheat, but the poppy crop is worth ten times more. As the Afghan economy falters because of war and recession, so the wheat fields were turned over to the proftable natco commodity.

It is sad to read the Daily Mail put a political spin on this. It is disrespectful to the many young soldiers who have died there. It is even sadder to see its gullible readers repeat the same nonsense on here.