Sooo, Afghanistan is not important, eh?

[mahnmut]

Afghanistan has no oil, only opium.

LOL.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/bitter-harvest/map-from-poppy-field-to-western-markets/drug-traffic-routes/3174/

The scheme is simple. Poppy is grown in Afghanistan. Then it gets to the Middle East and Turkey, where it gets processed. The drugs get distributed to the European markets via, surprise-surprise, Kosovo. And to Asia, via India and China. And to Scandinavia, via Russia and Ukraine. And to the Americas. It's a huge trade worth billions of dollars. Much of that income is used for arming militant groups, who perpetuate military conflicts, which make a necessity for maintaining huge armies, military bases, and the wheel of the military industry keeps turning fast. And much of all that originates in Afghanistan. It doesn't have oil, no. But it's the perfect lab for the poppy industry. And as a bonus, it's the only route out of Iranian/Chinese/Russian reach from where the Central Asian oil and gas can reach the US tankers waiting at the oil ports on the Arab Sea.

So yeah, unless you can invent a way to transport oil through teleportation or via air, Afghanistan remains pretty important.

Left: poppy routes. / Right: oil, gas routes.

Comments

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but technically, they still don't have oil, amirite?

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

You could put it that way!

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Love charts&maps, especially when they're of the Middle East!

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

now see, i thought i'd read that the only reason so many farmers have turned to poppy as a crop is because they are soOoo desperate and so poor....