Opium field in Afghanistan

Men working in a field of opium poppies in Helmand Province in Afghanistan on April 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq)

(CNSNews.com) - After 12 years of occupation by U.S. military forces, Afghanistan set a record for growing opium poppies in 2013, according to newly released data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

“Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan reached a sobering record high in 2013,” said the UNODC. “According to the 2013 Afghanistan Opium Survey, cultivation amounted to some 209,000 hectares, outstripping the earlier record in 2007 of 193,000 hectares, and representing a 36 per cent increase over 2012.”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/after-12-yrs-us-occupation-afghanistan-sets-record-growing-opium