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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies
#12443965 - 04/23/10 01:51 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies April 23, 2010 - guardian.co.uk
Senior soldier says number of attacks on British troops have fallen but he expects them to rise again in summer
The opium poppy harvest in southern Afghanistan means insurgents have temporarily laid down their weapons so there are fewer Taliban-led attacks on British troops, a senior army spokesman said today.
"The reduction in insurgent activity ... is a sign the poppy harvest is in full swing and therefore a great deal of young men are involved in harvesting," said Major General Gordon Messenger. He warned that attacks could be expected to rise once the harvest was over. Official figures show the number of British casualties is relatively low in the spring but increases significantly during the summer.
Messenger was speaking at a briefing in London on the latest situation in central Helmand province, where 9,500 British troops are engaged in counter-insurgency and reconstruction. He disclosed that Royal Marines were recently attacked there by a child suicide bomber.
The general conceded that revenue from the lucrative narcotics trade remained "as important as ever" to the Taliban-led insurgency. However, he said, disrupting it was not a matter for Nato troops, but for the Afghan authorities.
How to eradicate opium poppies in Afghanistan, which produce some 90% of the opium reaching Europe, has been a highly controversial and divisive issue ever since the collapse of the Taliban and the deployment of Nato troops in 2001. Initial Americans proposals to spray the crop were strongly opposed by Afghan leaders. Now Afghan governors in Helmand are eager to get rid of the poppies but Nato commanders are concerned about a backlash from the local population. A programme to distribute seeds for alternative crops is under way.
Messenger yesterday revealed that marines from 40 Commando patrolling in Sangin were approached on 14 April by a child suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14. The boy killed himself, and a marine and an interpreter suffered minor injuries. The threat from suicide bombers in Lashkar Gah, Helmand's provincial capital, was described by British military officials yesterday as "enduring".
In Marjah, the main target of Operation Moshtarak, the biggest Nato offensive so far, intimidation by Taliban supporters was still a key factor, Messenger said. But he added that the number of tip-offs to Nato and Afghan forces was increasing, schools were opening and main road routes were getting more secure.
Troops from the Royal Regiment of Scotland today hailed Ajab Han, a sergeant in the Afghan army, for discovering 177 roadside bombs in Helmand, a record for an individual soldier.
The praise came as Nato foreign ministers meeting in Tallin, the Estonian capital, agreed on conditions to start handing over security responsibility to Afghan forces later this year.
"The Afghan security forces will need our assistance for quite some time," Nato's secretary general, Anders Rasmussen, said, "so it will be a gradual process."
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Nexius
Ruler


Registered: 06/24/07
Posts: 3,960
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 13 years, 26 days
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: veggie]
#12444431 - 04/23/10 03:19 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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ya know i've been thinking, alot of the heroin/street opiates come from over there....
Which funds the taliban
If the governement were to legalize it, or at least supply it it'd be a win win situation.. no?
We wouldn't be funding the taliban and the governement would make moolah off it
-------------------- Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright, until you hear them speak
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist


Registered: 03/10/07
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Last seen: 8 hours, 45 minutes
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: Nexius]
#12445104 - 04/23/10 05:02 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Maybe the government likes funding the taliban. Gives them something to do.
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Tcm19277
Etheromaniac



Registered: 01/25/09
Posts: 6,191
Loc: Korova Milk Bar
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: veggie]
#12445345 - 04/23/10 05:35 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Nexius said: ya know i've been thinking, alot of the heroin/street opiates come from over there....
Which funds the taliban
If the governement were to legalize it, or at least supply it it'd be a win win situation.. no?
We wouldn't be funding the taliban and the governement would make moolah off it
where would the government get all teh opium?
and
Quote:
Alan Rockefeller said: Maybe the government likes funding the taliban. Gives them something to do.
also:
Quote:
veggie said:


-------------------- I'M NOT DEAD YET!!! Tcm's Step by Step Guide to Making Poppy Pod Extract 'Opium' & Laudanum, Full With Lots of Pictures!    “I'll stick to my needle, my favourite waste of time, both spineless and sublime; Since I was born, I started to decay. Now nothing ever - ever goes my way.” - Brian Molko, of 'Placebo' -
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MrKnightVision
Stranger



Registered: 11/17/09
Posts: 405
Loc: BGS
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: Nexius]
#12446444 - 04/23/10 09:07 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Nexius said: ya know i've been thinking, alot of the heroin/street opiates come from over there....
Which funds the taliban
If the governement were to legalize it, or at least supply it it'd be a win win situation.. no?
We wouldn't be funding the taliban and the governement would make moolah off it
Oh well every time you go to a Doc from the middle east they send part of their money back home. They arrested two Arab DR.'s from my local area.
And the CIA's gotta keep it illegal,more money for them
-------------------- I'm Looking for Vietnamese Pans For More Info I LIVE IN MY OWN LITTLE WORLD, BUT IT'S OK...THEY KNOW ME HERE
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Konyap

Registered: 06/30/07
Posts: 33,945
Loc: Planet Piss
Last seen: 4 years, 3 months
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: MrKnightVision]
#12446610 - 04/23/10 09:43 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
MrKnightVision said:
Quote:
Nexius said: ya know i've been thinking, alot of the heroin/street opiates come from over there....
Which funds the taliban
If the governement were to legalize it, or at least supply it it'd be a win win situation.. no?
We wouldn't be funding the taliban and the governement would make moolah off it
Oh well every time you go to a Doc from the middle east they send part of their money back home. They arrested two Arab DR.'s from my local area.
And the budweiser/oxycotin/vicedin gotta keep it illegal,more money for them
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EdgeChaos
Still a stranger


Registered: 08/04/06
Posts: 2,071
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: Konyap]
#12448395 - 04/24/10 09:23 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Whats the difference between an Afghani citizen defending his country and a Taliban fighter?
I think they are the same.
You better bet if china invaded us I would be siting on top of my house with a rocket launcher blowing the shit out of every Chinese war machine I could see.
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PNW FunGuy
Psilocybian



Registered: 10/23/08
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: EdgeChaos]
#12449027 - 04/24/10 12:05 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Opium makes everyone put their guns down, and heads too!
Can't wait to put my mush down for harvest lol
-------------------- "The edge, there is no honest way to explain it, because the only ones who know where it is are the ones who have gone over." Dr. HST, the true king of fun - RIP
  Federal Bureau of Keeping Juice Special Agent Fun Guy.
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John
ssdp.org


Registered: 08/08/03
Posts: 7,026
Loc: Vancouver, B.C.
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: veggie]
#12449308 - 04/24/10 12:53 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
A programme to distribute seeds for alternative crops is under way.
Because that worked so well in Putumayo and other places they tried this
-------------------- There's a thin line between sanity and insanity... and I just snorted it.
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AnastomosisJihad
Hominid



Registered: 01/01/08
Posts: 700
Loc: Ohio
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: John]
#12451159 - 04/24/10 08:28 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
John said:
Quote:
A programme to distribute seeds for alternative crops is under way.
Because that worked so well in Putumayo and other places they tried this 
The occupying coalition could offer Afghan farmers a higher price for opium than established regional buyers are able to pay. The US government could then divert the opium to pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Billions of dollars and countless lives could be saved by allowing farmers in Afghanistan to continue growing opium. The heroin supply could be dried up by paying afghan farmers a living wage to do what they do well, grow opium.
The solution is so simple it's dumbfounding that it has not yet been implemented. The US should buy all the afghan opium. We need it for pain pills anyway. If all the farmers are in our pockets, then the insurgency will dissipate.
---------------------- Bomb, jihad, Taliban, kitty porn, droogs, Obama, .... Just trying to get your attention, Haha
-------------------- come together
Edited by AnastomosisJihad (04/24/10 08:33 PM)
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EdgeChaos
Still a stranger


Registered: 08/04/06
Posts: 2,071
Last seen: 6 years, 6 months
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: AnastomosisJihad]
#12451491 - 04/24/10 09:57 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
AnastomosisJihad said:
Quote:
John said:
Quote:
A programme to distribute seeds for alternative crops is under way.
Because that worked so well in Putumayo and other places they tried this 
The occupying coalition could offer Afghan farmers a higher price for opium than established regional buyers are able to pay. The US government could then divert the opium to pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Billions of dollars and countless lives could be saved by allowing farmers in Afghanistan to continue growing opium. The heroin supply could be dried up by paying afghan farmers a living wage to do what they do well, grow opium.
The solution is so simple it's dumbfounding that it has not yet been implemented. The US should buy all the afghan opium. We need it for pain pills anyway. If all the farmers are in our pockets, then the insurgency will dissipate.
---------------------- Bomb, jihad, Taliban, kitty porn, droogs, Obama, .... Just trying to get your attention, Haha 
You seem to have forgotten that drugs are bad. We couldn't possibly take a stance on drugs that could confuse the children.
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AnastomosisJihad
Hominid



Registered: 01/01/08
Posts: 700
Loc: Ohio
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Re: Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies [Re: EdgeChaos]
#12456241 - 04/25/10 08:52 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
We couldn't possibly take a stance on drugs that could confuse the children.
Yeah, yer probly right. It might also piss off Jebus and mohamed too.
-------------------- come together
Edited by AnastomosisJihad (05/25/10 10:03 PM)
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