#WINNING: Afghan Poppy Production “At An All-Time High”

Via the Washington Free Beacon comes a
link to this new study from the Special Inspector General for
Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The title kind of gives it away:

POPPY
CULTIVATION IN AFGHANISTAN: AFTER A DECADE OF RECONSTRUCTION
AND OVER $7 BILLION IN COUNTERNARCOTICS EFFORTS,
POPPY CULTIVATION LEVELS ARE AT AN ALL-TIME
HIGH 

There’s this:

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC), Afghan farmers grew an unprecedented 209,000 hectares
of opium poppy in 2013, surpassing the previous peak
of 193,000 hectares in 2007. With deteriorating security in
many parts of rural Afghanistan and low levels of eradication
of poppy fields, further increases in cultivation are likely in
2014. 

As of June 30, 2014, the United States has spent
approximately $7.6 billion on counternarcotics efforts in
Afghanistan.

Whole
report here.

Free Beacon account here.