To the Point
Illegal Drugs, Politics and the War in Afghanistan
The opium poppy is financing the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, but President Hamid Karzai is protecting opium traffic in order to stay in office. We hear dramatic claims by a high-level US official who can tell his story now that's resigned. Also, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens indicted, and gas means gold in rural Louisiana.
By Warren Olney • • 1h 0m ListenThe opium poppy is financing the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, but President Hamid Karzai is protecting opium traffic in order to stay in office. We hear dramatic claims by a high-level US official who can tell his story now that's resigned. Also, Also, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted, a down-at-the-heels part of Louisiana may be transformed by new riches from natural gas.
Banner image: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
In this episode
3 storiesSenator Ted Stevens Indicted
The longest-serving Republican in the US Senate has been indicted on seven criminal charges. He's Alaska's Ted Stevens , accused of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services for home renovation.
Read the story9 minAfghanistan's Poppy Quagmire
Opium from Afghanistan is responsible for 90% of the world's heroin. It's the cash crop that's enabling resurgence of the fundamentalist Taliban. But the State Department's former coordinator for counter-narcotics says that the Karzai government, supported by the US, depends on opium , too.
Read the story32 minFrom Rags to Riches in Louisiana
Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle says personal checks for $70,000 a month will change his life. Bank worker Linda Whatley says her "retirement horizon has gotten shorter." These are just two people who've cashed in on what could be the biggest natural-gas deposit in the continental US.
Read the story8 min
