Here's another consequence of the war on terror and deposing the Taliban regime: Opium production is way up in Afghanistan, including in some districts in which the crop has never before been cultivated.

What's changed?

The production of opium, from which heroin is refined, was wiped out under the hard-line Taliban regime, but farmers began planting it again when the religious militia was deposed in 2001 during the U.S.-led war on terror. Some farmers ripped up their wheat fields to plant the lucrative drug-producing plant, which brings in hundreds of times the revenue.... The U.N. drug agency said opium yields had soared to 3,750 tons in 2002, making Afghanistan the world's No. 1 producer again, a record it had held prior to the eradication of poppies by the Taliban in 2001.

The new Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, last year offered to pay $500 for every acre that the farmes destroy. But there were few takers, with an acre of an opium crop bringing $6,400.00. And this year, the new Government discontinued the cash incentive plan due to lack of resources. A special report on opium growing in Afganistan finds there are 11 opium-processing laboratories in Badakhshan and that much of the opium was being smuggled over the border into nearby Tajikistan. One farmer interviewed said poppy is his only means of survival:

"Now at least we have a few roads, some electricity and some good teachers in schools, and all of this is the barakat [blessing] of the poppy," the angry peasant said, pointing out that no teacher or doctor would walk for hours or even days to a district for almost no salary, and knowing that he could not return for four to five months when it snows and roads were blocked. "They [government] comes by helicopter to destroy poppy, but not to bring us medicine, evaluate our needs and tackle our problems," he complained, mentioning that even though almost every family had a gun, they would welcome any fair and just decision by the government. "The people love Karzai," he said, hoping that the government would ultimately approach the issue in a positive and sustainable manner.