USAID: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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John Oliver discusses the United States Agency for International Development, why the Trump Administration has gutted it, who is being impacted, and how the ...

John Oliver discusses the United States Agency for International Development, why the Trump Administration has gutted it, who is being impacted, and how the Cha Cha Slide can help us get to the bottom of this.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    4 months ago

    USAID never intended to support opium poppy cultivation or the Taliban, and in fact the United States sought to stem it.

    Is the US or the Taliban responsible?

    The simple facts are that opium production was high under the US influenced government of Afghanistan of the 1970s, decreased 10-fold by 2001 under the Taliban, and then increased 30-fold and more under the US to the same level as in the 1970s

    • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
      2·
      4 months ago

      The power vacuum created by the invasion of Afghanistan is not the same as USAID funding poppy farming. Correlation is not causation. When the Taliban was overthrown local poppy growers took advantage. We didn’t move in there with the intent to grow more opium.