LASHKAR GAH: Afghans have an expression: “Well, whatever has happened, we are still skinny.” In other words, they have not gotten rich yet, try as they might.
It is an expression heard often here in Helmand Province, the southwestern region that is the world capital of opium and heroin production. Afghanistan accounts for 90 percent of the world’s heroin; more than two-thirds of that comes from Helmand’s opium poppies, according to United Nations figures.
Sometimes, the expression is uttered enviously — how did we miss out? Other times, it is delivered with greedy sarcasm — how much more can we get before the feeding frenzy is over?
This year’s first poppy harvest season has just begun, and the bright red flowers are garish splotches across the heavily irrigated landscape. But unlike in previous years, there will be no serious efforts to eradicate the opium crop in Helmand, because of a combination of Taliban advances and out-of-control corruption, with both sides battling over the drug trade.
