Controlling Opium Production: The Decisive Point in Stabilizing Afghanistan

Carl C. Goodison

2010

Goodison acquired his experience of Afghanistan while serving there as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. He became knowledgeable about the growing of opium and its rise as a sought-after commodity distributed all over the globe. Goodison chose to call this drug a “weapon of mass destruction,” and the scale of its cultivation and production in this wretched country is astonishing. The reader will find much about it in this booklet.

A large part of this work deals with the author’s recommendations on how to cope with this “weapon” and defeat it. He is aware of the economic weight of the drug in Afghanistan and of the involvement of every government and security institution, police and military alike. Nonetheless, he suggests ways to defuse the bomb.

This is a comprehensive work, rich in illuminating data, and it teaches a great deal about the drug and the scope of its distribution around the world. It also offers a rare look into the depths of what is happening in Afghanistan, this time by someone who was there for a long time and saw things at close hand.