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RIZ KHAN
Seeds of terror
How Aghanistan's opium industry is still funding the Taliban insurgency.
Last Modified: 28 May 2009 07:11 GMT

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Afghanistan produces more than 90 per cent of the world's opium.
It is a multi-billion dollar industry that, according to the US military, funnels an estimated $100-$500m to the Taliban each year.

The main production centre of Afghan opium is the southern Helmand province, a known stronghold for the Taliban.

In fighting a military war, has the US overlooked a vast drug trade that is still funding an insurgency?

Joining the show is journalist and author Gretchen Peters.

She covered Pakistan and Afghanistan for more than a decade and spent five years travelling the border areas between the two countries to research and write her new book Seeds of Terror: How Heroin is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda.

This episode of the Riz Khan show aired on Wednesday, May 27, 2009.
Source:
Al Jazeera
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