USA Drug Policy approach on Colombia and Afghanistan Essay

USA Drug Policy approach on Colombia and Afghanistan - Essay Example The first part of this paper will therefore focus on the US drug policy in Colombia and the second part of this paper will evaluate the US drug policy in Afghanistan. The final part of this paper will provide a comparative analysis of the US drug policy toward the two countries and will offer key findings and explain how these two different policies are designed to achieve the same goal, although influenced by different political considerations. As the paper declares the US Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that Colombia is the source of more than 90 percent of the cocaine that infiltrates the US. Likewise the US identifies Colombia as a significant source of heroin in the US. Liang-Fenton characterizes the US drug policy toward Colombia as one of â€Å"eradication, interdiction and extradition†. Eradication is aimed at the crop and invariably involves â€Å"aerial herbicide†. Interdiction involves interdicting the drugs either in the source country or en route to the US and requires cooperation with the security personnel of the source state. Extradition is motivated by eliminating and/or immobilizing drug traffickers on a state to state cooperation basis. The US response to a Colombian judge’s release from prison of Jorge Ochoa, a â€Å"notorious cocaine capo† in 1987 illustrates the point. The Colombian government’s jurisdiction over the judge was entirely limited. The US re sponded by criticizing and ridiculing Colombia and in addition subjected Colombian travelers and Colombian products to intensive checks by US Customs at entry ports into the US.