Thus The New York Times today. “The opium production problem seems to be getting worse,” elaborates the newspaper. “What went wrong with the multiyear, multimillion-dollar narcotics program?” Addiction, what addiction? The title is idiotic at best. Afghanistan’s unabated production of opium only means that addiction elsewhere is thriving. Where could that be? Well, the States, of course, as well as elsewhere in the so-called west. As for the narcotics program, it surely went astray, as most programs do. The bigger they get, the more spectacularly they fail. Chances are that much of the money has actually been spent on opium trafficking rather than the other way around. That is quite typical of many a program, to be sure. It is good to remember that the Taliban did their best to curtail opium production before the American misguided intervention. And they were quite successful at it, too. It is the intervention itself that has given a new start to opium production in the country. Returning to the Taliban, they should leave opium production alone once the American forces pull out of the country. Addiction in the States and among its allies is a just retribution for all the mindboggling meddling in Afghanistan’s affairs.