Iran soon to be new anti-opium-war ally?

Machjo

Machjo

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Oct 19, 2004
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Ottawa, ON
petros said:
They've been shooting Afghani smugglers for a long long time. Long before you or I were born.
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I know, but when Afghanistan was under taliban control, whether we like to admit to it or not, the Taliban did reduce the production of opium considerably.

Yes, I know the Taliban are hipocrites in that whenever they're fighting wars, they rely on opium production to finance them, and then oppose it only when in full power. And of course they get into all kinds of double speak like: yes, we know mind-altering substances are against Islam, but... but.. but... all kinds of excuses why in this case it's OK.

So I'm certainly not defending the Taliban here, but merely saying that opium production now is back to how it was prior to the Taliban controlling Afghanistan, meaning of course that the cost of opium on the world market drops, availability increases, and so Iran faces an even bigger opium problem than before. And since Iran is the gateway to the world for the smugglers, it would seem wise, in spite of Iran's dismal human rights record, to collaborate with it at least on the drug front. I'm not saying that we remain quiet about Iran's human rights record at the UN or anything like that, but simply collaboration on a case by case basis. For instance, Canadian drug enforcement agencies might want to build closer ties with Iranian ones even if we don't agree on other areas. This would be in the interests of both countries seeing that Iran is suffering from opium trade just as Canada is. On this front at least, we have common interests. Add to that that Iran is not too happy about the Taliban either.
 
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