Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
December 20, 2006
Pg. 6
By Abdul Waheed Wafa
The government said it would use ground spraying to reduce the poppy crop but did not say where or when. It has resisted chemical spraying in favor of persuasion combined with eradication campaigns by local police officers, who break up poppy crops with tractors or cut them down. But 2006 brought a record harvest of more than 6,600 tons of opium, a 49 percent increase over the year before and well above the previous record of 5,070 tons. Over the weekend, President Hamid Karzai removed the governor and deputy governor of Helmand, the biggest poppy-producing province by far.
December 20, 2006
Pg. 6
By Abdul Waheed Wafa
The government said it would use ground spraying to reduce the poppy crop but did not say where or when. It has resisted chemical spraying in favor of persuasion combined with eradication campaigns by local police officers, who break up poppy crops with tractors or cut them down. But 2006 brought a record harvest of more than 6,600 tons of opium, a 49 percent increase over the year before and well above the previous record of 5,070 tons. Over the weekend, President Hamid Karzai removed the governor and deputy governor of Helmand, the biggest poppy-producing province by far.