Gretchen Peters – Seeds of Terror

4,000 United States Marines pushed into Helmand River valley in southwestern Afghanistan this Thursday to force back the region from the Taliban who controls the poppy harvests. Opium smuggling and sales of heroin in Helmand provides major financing for the Afghan insurgency. This is also the week when the Obama administration has decided to change the U.S. policy from eradicating opium poppies to starting new agricultural programs in Afghanistan. Our guest, journalist GRETCHEN PETERS, has covered Pakistan and Afghanistan for more than a decade. Her new book is “Seeds of Terror: How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda.” Listen to the mp3