diane9247
Humanitarian
Reged: 01/15/07
Posts: 1861
Loc: Californian in Oregon
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Helmand River Valley, Afghanistan.
A folder of some points of interest in an almost 200 mile swath of Helmand Province. This is poppy-central, birthplace of heroin. Poppy growing has increased dramatically and a rise in shipments of heroin to the US and Canada can be traced to this fertile valley. Efforts by the Afghan government to eradicte poppies and convince farmers to grow legal crops have failed. The payoff for poppies is just too lucrative, because it funds the resurgent Taliban, who control much of this province.
 The Economist. A farmer uses a thin metal scoop to remove the poppy paste from cracks in the pods. See photo below for a huge bag being sold in a market. As long as the West demands heroin, opium poppies will be big business in this region, with or without the Taliban.
 Time. British soldier in a poppy field in Helmand Province, Apr., 2007.
 RadioFreeEurope
Journalist Saroya Sarhaddi Nelson of npr.org, below in burka, standing in a field with poppy farmers, says that the local population is frightened by the dominance of the Taliban here. Their capacity to provide the fortune to fund the Taliban makes them vulnerable to forced cooperation, kidnapping, or death.
Quote:
Civilian casualties [in Helmand Province], largely in NATO airstrikes against Taliban fighters, are contributing to the pessimism. Life in Afghanistan these days is a tale of two cities - the somewhat Westernized Kabul, and a violent Taliban stronghold called Lashkargah, in southern Afghanistan. "In Kabul, you'll see women or girls...with just a veil on and jeans," Nelson says. ...You definitely see that Afghanistan has come a long way from the Taliban days"... But the situation is much different in Lashkargah, the capitol of Helmand Province. "You don't see any women on the streets without burkas. [There is] a lot of paranoia. The bazaar is very rarely filled. People are so scared, they don't trust their neighbors... [they race] to work - if they even still go to work - and race home at night...because it's difficult to tell who's Taliban and who's not. ... A lot of times, bodies will be left outside the city. ... As a result, you just don't have really any life."
Taliban with their weapons. These two photos: WorldNews.com and Truthline.org
 PBS. Selling raw opium in Lashkar Gah market, just another fund-raiser for the Taliban.
 WorldNews. Drug use among local men has skyrocketed in Helmand Province, so it's not just a Western problem. It's one more reason to loathe the Taliban.
The Taliban are a fascistic menace to their female neighbors and I find it impossible to pretend objectivity - in other words, to attempt any research into their "point of view." So, they can sue me. Below, burka-covered women lined up to vote in Lashkar Gah, 2006. There's something heartbreaking about women wearing burkas to vote. Certainly, radical Islamist women exist all over this part of the world, but it is also the opinion of knowledgeable womens' groups working in Afghanistan that most continue to wear their burkas out of fear of what the future may bring. It's a nation of traumatized women, and girls with a future of groveling subjugation. There could not be anything more destructive to a culture than to kill the souls of its women and children.
Blackfive Photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob Caldwel.
Women scurry from the path of British soldiers. Honestly, they're safer with this guy walking by with a gun than they are with the Taliban....
chinadaily.com Photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob Caldwell.
...who are running around Helmand Province burning down girls' schools...
NPR: Taliban Wages War on Afghan Girls' Schools.
....and blowing off farmers' legs with mines. 
UN.org.pk
Some of the above is my opinion, informed by reading and attention to current events, and not directly attributable to specific sources.
_______________________________________________________
 Thank you bullsnose, for pointing me to the correct location of the Bost Fortress! And, to britchickie for giving the correct name of the airport. I have updated accordingly. Thanks a million, Explorer572007, for leading me to find the town of Musa Qala and read about its central location in the Taliban drug trade.
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Women for Women International - For the special needs of women surviving war.
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Room to Read - Change begins with educated children.
Edited by diane9247 (12/18/07 02:09 PM)
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danescombe
Master Guide
Reged: 11/07/05
Posts: 10149
Loc: UK
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Hi Diane
Quote:
What are these holes? I thought wells, but this one has no tracks radiating from it. No, don't think it's a well.
Its a Qanat. ( or Karezes )
A water management system used to provide a reliable supply of water to human settlements or for irrigation in hot, arid and semi-arid climates. The technology is known to have developed in ancient Persia, and then spread to other cultures, especially along the Silk Road as far east as China
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qanat
also see this Post
Edited by danescombe (09/16/07 03:24 PM)
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diane9247
Humanitarian
Reged: 01/15/07
Posts: 1861
Loc: Californian in Oregon
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Danescombe -
That's impressive! It gives me chills to see the diagram of those little men digging into the aquifer - not much attention to supporting beams and such, I'll bet! I've added a placemark to the folder that shows an enormous area with rows of qanats drilled roughly N/S. Thanks very much for the info...
I just found this today...a spectacular example of this system. Notice the older row on the left. This goes on for about 1.7 miles! Of course, these are modern and look like they were dug by machine, thus saving many lives!
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Women for Women International - For the special needs of women surviving war.
Kiva - Small loans changing lives around the world.
Bukavu Foundation - For the Panzi Women's Shelter & other programs in Eastern Congo.
Room to Read - Change begins with educated children.
Edited by diane9247 (09/21/07 07:59 PM)
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diane9247
Humanitarian
Reged: 01/15/07
Posts: 1861
Loc: Californian in Oregon
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Added new photos and updates about the Taliban and Afghan women.
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Women for Women International - For the special needs of women surviving war.
Kiva - Small loans changing lives around the world.
Bukavu Foundation - For the Panzi Women's Shelter & other programs in Eastern Congo.
Room to Read - Change begins with educated children.
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bebop
Master Guide
Reged: 08/11/05
Posts: 2585
Loc: Florence, Ita
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Ciao Diane
Interesting post
Keep up the good work!
Bye
b
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bebop
Master Guide
Reged: 08/11/05
Posts: 2585
Loc: Florence, Ita
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----------------------------------------- 
After the biggest opium harvest in Afghanistan’s history, American officials have renewed efforts to persuade the government here to begin spraying herbicide on opium poppies, and they have found some supporters within President Hamid Karzai’s administration, officials of both countries said.
Since early this year, Mr. Karzai has repeatedly declared his opposition to spraying the poppy fields, whether by crop-dusting airplanes or by eradication teams on the ground.
But Afghan officials said the Karzai administration is now re-evaluating that stance. Some proponents within the government are pushing a trial program of ground spraying that could begin before the harvest next spring.
[...]
Many spraying advocates, including officials at the White House and the State Department, view herbicides as critical to curbing Afghanistan’s poppy crop, officials said. That crop and the opium and heroin it produces have become a major source of revenue for the Taliban insurgency.
But officials said the skeptics — who include American military and intelligence officials and European diplomats in Afghanistan — fear that any spraying of American-made chemicals over Afghan farms would be a boon to Taliban propagandists. Some of those officials say that the political cost could be especially high if the herbicide destroys food crops that farmers often plant alongside their poppies.
Earlier this year, a farmer in southern Afghanistan walked between a field of poppies, on his left, and a field of grass.
(photo credit: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)
[...]
Among European diplomats here, a far greater concern than any environmental or health dangers of chemical eradication is the potential for political fallout that could lead to more violence and instability.
Those diplomats worry particularly that aerial spraying would kill food crops that some farmers plant with their poppies. European officials add that any form of spraying could be cast by the Taliban as American chemical warfare against the Afghan peasantry.
Source: Kirk Semple and Tim Golden - The New York Times - October 8, 2007
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diane9247
Humanitarian
Reged: 01/15/07
Posts: 1861
Loc: Californian in Oregon
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Hi B!
I saw this article today - in fact had e-mailed it to myself from my office so I could add it to the post when I got home. Thanks for doing the work for me! 
Good article - what a dilemma, eh?
Regards, Diane
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Women for Women International - For the special needs of women surviving war.
Kiva - Small loans changing lives around the world.
Bukavu Foundation - For the Panzi Women's Shelter & other programs in Eastern Congo.
Room to Read - Change begins with educated children.
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saellis
Cartographer
Reged: 03/10/06
Posts: 261
Loc: Colorado Springs
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Great job Diane!
Was anyone else impressed by the network of canals in this region? They have the basis for sustainable agriculture which could feed their whole people if only poppy cultivation were to become economically unviable which doesn't seem likely to happen.
For a major airbase, Lashkar Gar seems to be missing its aircraft. Do they keep them in underground bunkers?
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"Fortitudine Vincimus" 
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diane9247
Humanitarian
Reged: 01/15/07
Posts: 1861
Loc: Californian in Oregon
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Thanks saellis! Yes, that's a fantastic system, as danescombe was kind enough to educate me about. If you take another look at the placemarkers, there is row after row of boreholes running approx. north-south on the upper end of the valley. I was recently looking at a location in someplace like Kazakhstan and saw the same system (wish I'd saved it). Makes perfect sense, since, according to danescombe, this system started in Persia and spread elsewhere.
As for the airfield: I vaguely remember reading it was destroyed by coalition forces, but could not find a source for this today (should have looked longer). I did find that the British* base was built out in the desert to keep their planes and equipment from being attacked by the Taliban, who are very active in Lashkar Gah and getting better with their homemade missles. Easier for the Brits to keep an eye on who's approaching when the base is out in the middle of nowhere. (BBC.co.uk)
*The major coalition force in Helmand Prov.
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Women for Women International - For the special needs of women surviving war.
Kiva - Small loans changing lives around the world.
Bukavu Foundation - For the Panzi Women's Shelter & other programs in Eastern Congo.
Room to Read - Change begins with educated children.
Edited by diane9247 (10/11/07 07:36 PM)
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britchickie
Tourist
Reged: 03/11/06
Posts: 6
Loc: Rutland, United Kingdom
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The airfield marked as Lashkar Gah Air base, isn't! There's no air base near the town of Lashkar Gah, the airstrip you can see is Bost Airfield, which (very) rarely gets used by the local population, and it has been mined in the past. The only aircraft I've ever seen photographed on the airfield, was missing large chunks due to hitting a landmine. Not sure if the bits are still there. The Brit airbase is some way away from the town, and there is a Provincial Reconstruction Team base within the town, to assist with security and reconstruction (they have built and repaired schools, playparks, midwife colleges, hospitals and wells, amongst other things)
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britchickie
Tourist
Reged: 03/11/06
Posts: 6
Loc: Rutland, United Kingdom
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The Afghans can thank the USA for the superb canal system. It would be fantastic if they did use them for something other than poppy - the Afghan Government have the Alternative Liveliehoods Project to try and persuade farmers that there are other options.......whether they pay as much or not, I'm not too sure!
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diane9247
Humanitarian
Reged: 01/15/07
Posts: 1861
Loc: Californian in Oregon
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Brtichickie -
Thanks for the correction. I've edited the placemark accordingly.
Diane
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Women for Women International - For the special needs of women surviving war.
Kiva - Small loans changing lives around the world.
Bukavu Foundation - For the Panzi Women's Shelter & other programs in Eastern Congo.
Room to Read - Change begins with educated children.
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diane9247
Humanitarian
Reged: 01/15/07
Posts: 1861
Loc: Californian in Oregon
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UPDATE:
I received a PM from Richard White, who was in Helmand Province with the Royal Marines in 2006. He also sent a photo he had taken of the Bost Fort, which is one of my placemarks in this folder, and I was thrilled to get it! He was also kind enough to correct my location of the fort, which GE member bullsnose had done, also. It will show correctly when GE updates.
Richard's excellent photo - notice the reinforcement inside the arch compared with the pre-invasion photo from National Geographic:
I've gotten a big charge out of hearing from someone who was there - even better, he lived to tell about it.
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Women for Women International - For the special needs of women surviving war.
Kiva - Small loans changing lives around the world.
Bukavu Foundation - For the Panzi Women's Shelter & other programs in Eastern Congo.
Room to Read - Change begins with educated children.
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heamit
Master Cartographer
Reged: 10/26/06
Posts: 2333
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Fascinating post, Diane, thanks!
I found the section on Bost fortress and also the petroglyphs particularly interesting.
- H.
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Jose_Miguel_Perez_Gomez
Tourist
Reged: 02/07/07
Posts: 41
Loc: Venezuela, Amazonas, San Carlo...
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Hi Diane,
Extraordinary post!!. These days I saw a documentary on TV about this situation , what impact me the most is how heroin is getting now into the Afghan society like never before. It was like watching a “real hell on earth” , it was just scary to see how thousands of people of all ages are hooked on it with very little hope. I realize how it is becoming a big problem for the Afghans with no solution on the horizon yet. What do you personally think is the best solution for this problem?
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