BILOXI -- U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor talked about the war in Afghanistan, health care, insurance and other issues Monday at a town hall meeting.
About 30 citizens came to the gathering at the Biloxi Community Center on Howard Avenue. Taylor said Afghanistan's drug trade has actually gotten worse over the last few years, is currently out of control and is being helped by officials in power. He said the drug trade earns money, which allows dangerous groups to buy more weapons.
Taylor said the Taliban had actually kept the drug trade somewhat controlled because they wanted prices to go up because of supply and demand. He said the U.S. government knows that President Hamid Karzai’s brother is one of the foremost narcotics dealers in the country. Karzai has virtually no influence outside of Kabul, but many of those places are actually run by tribal heads, many of whom Taylor said are in the drug business.
"I am deeply troubled that after eight years their government is more corrupt," Taylor said.
He said he wonders if some of the U.S. resources dedicated to Afghanistan and other places could be better spent locally.
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