John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

Let me give three reasons in the brief time available to me. First, Helmand is a focus for insurgents who have obstructed efforts to improve security, governance and development. Second, it has been used by the insurgents as a command and control and logistics hub from which to mount operations elsewhere in the south. Of most concern is its importance to the Taliban as an area for the mass production of IEDs. And, third, it is central to the narcotics trade. Helmand province alone is reported to produce more than half of the world’s opium. Marjah is the heroin capital of Helmand, from where much of that illicit opium is trafficked.