Afghanistan: Russian Radio - The role of Afghan opium in global economy --- While the White House envoys and the President of Afghanistan are engaged in fierce bargaining over the terms and timing of signing the Afghan- US agreement on defence, experts are wondering how this bargaining will affect the other spheres of Afghan life. -- Some experts in Kabul have already stated that Afghans do not need the agreement because, in their opinion, Americans have given nothing to Afghanistan but growth in drug production. Others believe that the agreement has its advantages which should be used. -- Meanwhile, the theme of the alleged link between Western troops stay and increasing drug production in Afghanistan is interesting in itself . There are various versions. One of them comes from our columnist Evgeny Ermolaev. --- If you draw on the map of the world the paths of drug traficking and on another map designate the trails used by international terrorists, a comparison of both charts will reveal an amazing resemblence. However, this looks surprising only at first glance. - The founders of "al- Qaeda" Osama Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri tied their terrorist network to the networks of drug traffickers from the very beginning. But the Afghan Taliban took an imprudent step, deciding to at least significantly limit drug production in Afghanistan if not completely stop it. After that, the Americans came to the country and drug production was not only restored immediately but also greatly increased in volume. And the money to "al- Qaeda" started pouring in again. --- As for the U.S., the reason for their passivity is quite obvious. Drugs from Afghanistan are not going overseas. They mostly end up in the region, as well as in Russia and Europe. U.S. does not think that it's for them to defend the interests of others. Including the interests of Muslim countries, whose population is becoming addicted to the poison from Afghanistan. -- And only Afghans themselves can cope with this disaster. Americans will certainly not help them, the history of the last ten or so years has clearly shown this.