Geraldo on Drugs in Afghanistan, and What the U.S. Needs From Karzai

Just back from Afghanistan, Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera told Imus that the most underreported story in that country is that it’s all about the dope. “Afghanistan is just like Colombia,” he said. “Colombia had cocaine, Afghanistan has opium and heroine.”

With the exception of what Geraldo estimated to be a small percentage of people, nearly everybody in the country is involved with the drug trade in one way or another. In driving through Helmand Province, which Geraldo said is where 90 percent of the world’s heroine comes from, he was struck by the boundless fields of poppy.  

“It’s like wheat in Kansas, it’s like cotton in Mississippi, it’s like corn in Nebraska,” said Geraldo, who has been covering the drug story since 1971. “It’s as far as the eye can see.”

He also noted how quickly the money poured into Afghanistan by the U.S. is going to waste, with million-dollar armored vehicles meant to protect Marines from harm being disabled by $30 improvised explosive devices.

“Part of Osama Bin Laden’s plan was to bankrupt the United States,” said Geraldo. “That’s a good way to do it.”

The man who ran against Hamid Karzai for President in Afghanistan and lost, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, is a good friend of Geraldo’s. According to Abdullah, he was the true victor in that election, the victim of widespread, rampant voting fraud. Bearing that in mind, Geraldo understands why the U.S. is, at least at the moment, supporting Karzai.

“If Karzai just stops the violence against Americans, if he just vows no to allow his national territory to be used as a base for Al-Qaeda to build a suitcase nuclear weapon, that’s probably good enough for us,” he said, citing that as our raison d’être in Afghanistan.

Geraldo doesn’t see this as much different from the policy adopted by the U.S. during the Cold War, which Imus described as not caring what certain despots did in their own country so long as they lined up with us and not the Soviet Union.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” said Geraldo, invoking an oft-used and slightly tired catchphrase. Besides, over the course of his storied career in journalism he’s known lots of shady dudes like Karzai.

“Sometimes they can be honorable in other ways, or at least do a job that makes sense,” Geraldo continued. “And if Karzai just does that one thing—if he just says, no matter what happens, no matter how much I enrich myself with this dope money, I promise you I’m not going to let Osama Bin Laden and his guys come up here and set up their training camps again…I think that’s good enough.”

Since Geraldo obviously enjoys a good scandal, Imus recommended David Kirby’s book Animal Factory.  But Geraldo was only interested in being a smart ass, joking, “I’ll give you a book report next time I’m on.”

Will you try to be hilarious during that appearance, too?

-Julie Kanfer