LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Afghanistan: Afghanistan Trade
built 656 days ago
In Afghanistan, the drug trade has undermined everything from security to development, while increasing public frustration with the government. Afghanistan produces 87 percent of the world's heroin according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), based in Vienna. UNODC estimates that the value of all opiates produced in Afghanistan last year was $2.8 billion—out of which only $600 million reached the farmers. That is much less than the average estimated $2.5 billion per year that Western donors have provided Afghanistan since 2001. The aid programs supposed to provide alternative livelihoods to farmers producing poppies or help them grow other lucrative cash crops are derisory when compared to what the drug smugglers offer. The best-functioning programs to help farmers are run by opium traffickers who provide improved varieties of poppy seeds, fertilizer, and better methods of cultivation to increase opium yields and even large-scale employment during the poppy harvest.
Source:
Afghanistan's geographical location ... rendered it prize territory for outsiders. Ancient trade routes connecting Europe and the Middle East with India and the Far East pass through Afghanistan. Moreover, it has been the site of conflicting imperial ambitions: between Persia and India in the 16th and 17th centuries, and as the setting of the "Great Game" of the 19th century.
Source:
WHAT’S GOING RIGHT • British and US forces committed to Afghanistan for the long haul. • Millions of exiles have returned. • Osama bin Laden andthe Taleban are supported by no more than 10 per cent of the population. • NATOtroops are winning when battle is joined, making progress in eliminating theTaleban’s battlefield leadership. • Improved infrastructure is helping theAfghan economy to recover and is ... making it easier for NATO to confineTaleban insurgents to the mountains. • Hamid Karzai’s government is relativelystable, although concerns remain about the past of some politicians and linksto the drugs trade.
Source:
Herat is the largest city in western Afghanistan and a main trade city for exports. No education has been available to women and girls in Herat for the last decade under the Taliban regime. Recent patterns of civil strife in Afghanistan have destroyed about 95% of the infrastructure and services. Established in September 2002, the Herat Women’s Learning Center serves about 425 women and children, with plans for service expansion during 2003.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Afghanistan Trade