can't beat the real thing

president hamid karzai of afghanistan welcomed the first major business to open in the country in more than a decade, coke. a 25 million dollar bottling plant was opened in bagrami, and karzai's government hopes that this will be the begining of a kickstart to a virtually nonexistant economy (besides the $3 billion-a-year illegal drug trade.)

it seems a bit silly at first, considering the average income is about $200 a year, but the government is hopeful. i wonder how the polar bear commercials will fly in afghanistan?

at any rate, coke must be heavily investing in security, considering by some estimates, a company has to spend ten times as much money on security as development. the good thing is, coke's product costs only twenty cents to make and it is ready-made pretty much. also, allah has blessed the company, so what could possibly go wrong?

now, in afghanistan, you have another option than just drugs and being shot at. hmm... jokes at the expense of the afghanistan people... too soon perhaps?

(source)