Poppy Palaces

Grand houses in Afghanistan, built on the profits of opium production and its associated corruption.

President Hamid Karzai has pledged to eradicate the “stain of corruption” tarnishing Afghanistan’s reputation, Lynne O’Donnell reported for Agence France-Presse. Noting the “widespread scepticism” that met this promise, O’Donnell observed:

Corruption is endemic at every level of Afghan society, from traffic policemen who demand cash at ubiquitous road blocks, to officials and their relatives implicated in large-scale drug trafficking.

Kabul is experiencing a building boom founded on the proceeds of opium production – the world’s highest – with massive houses dubbed “poppy palaces” springing up across the capital.

There is little to show for the billions of aid dollars that has poured in since the repressive Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001.

The magazine Monocle has a video feature here on the “narcotecture” of these “narco-palaces.”