I Don't Know . . .
if this is good news or bad news or just kind of funny.
Colourful ribbons tied to their Kalashnikovs and opium flowers decorating a van, police in flip-flops meet with Canadian soldiers about a new anti-Taliban operation in southern Afghanistan.
. . . Night fell and Canadian armoured vehicles discreetly took positions around the post, ready to intervene should anything happen.
"There will be no clashes. The Taliban know you are here," one Afghan policeman said.
In the meantime, about 20 policemen had blocked the road for a few hours, "high after smoking opium and searching everything that moves," a Canadian soldier said.
There was no incident apart from some trucks turning back after seeing the roadblock.
Ruff, the Canadian officer, said he does not have much confidence in the police in a district where the governor himself is suspected of being involved in the trafficking of opium, of which Afghanistan is the world's top producer.
"With the army, there is no problem but the police are something else," he said, adding: "Far too many policemen smoke opium."
"It is possible that some police are collaborating with the Taliban. Some of the guys have not been paid for a year."
Ah well, there is some good news in the works for Afghanistan. They're finally starting to work on the idea of legalizing the Afghan opium crop for use as medical pain-killers. They should have done this right away before they pissed off all the farmers trying to scratch out a living by destroying their crops.
