The US has a new policy regarding opium cultivation in Afghanistan. Here's a bit of the story from the Beeb:
"The United States is to change the way it deals with the massive poppy growing industry in Afghanistan.
"Instead of destroying the crops it will spend money encouraging Afghan farmers to grow different ones.
"US special envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, at a G8 meeting in Italy, said current measures against poppy growers had been "a failure".
The conference of foreign ministers in Trieste also called for credible elections in Afghanistan in August.
"Mr Holbrooke said that existing programmes of eradication had not reduced by one dollar the amount of money the Taliban earned from production.
"Spraying the crops just penalises the farmer and they grow crops somewhere else. The hundreds of millions of dollars we spend on crop eradication has not had any damage on the Taliban."
""On the contrary, it has helped them recruit. This is the least effective programme ever," Mr Holbrooke added."
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