Brother, Can You Spare $28 Billion?

BBC NEWS reports that Hamid Karzai is requesting the most expensive detox since Rush Limbaugh checked into inpatient therapy:

President Hamid Karzai has called for more international help to fight drug production in Afghanistan.
Speaking at a major aid conference in Berlin, he said drugs were undermining the "very existence" of his country.

Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of poppy-derived opium, which is used to make heroin.

The two-day Berlin conference, attended by officials from 50 countries, is considering fresh aid to Kabul - which is seeking $27.5bn over seven years.

OK, so it's only $27.5 billion dollars. What's a half billion between, uh, friends I guess. Of course, now that Iraq is receipent of $20 billion per annum of our largesse, I expect the US contribution might be a little on the slight side. Then again, since the security situation isn't, maybe they could divert some of the money until it's a little safer to drive on the streets in the Sunni triangle (and Mosul, and Basra, and...).

I wonder if Poppy Bush has any words to say about the 'success' in Afghanistan...