Opium still fuelling terrorism in Afghanistan
Updated
A new United Nations report has found that opium poppies grown in Afghanistan are fueling a $US65 billion trade that feeds 15 million addicts around the world. The report says opium kills five times more people in NATO countries every year than all the NATO lives lost in eight years of fighting against the Taliban. And with the profits funding militant groups throughout the region, the UN is warning that a so-called perfect storm of drugs and terrorism could be heading towards Central Asia.
Presenter: Joanna McCarthy
Speaker: Ashley Jackson, researcher, Oxfam Kabul; Antonio Maria Costa, executive director, UN Office on Drugs and Crime; Professor Amin Saikal, director, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Australian National University
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