<div><div><div><br>OPIUM SEASON is the story of a young American working on the brutal fault line where the war on terror meets the war on drugs.&nbsp; Joel Hafvenstein didn?t know what he was getting into when he signed up for a year in Afghanistan?s rugged Helmand province, the heart of the country's opium trade.&nbsp; He was running an American-funded aid program with two goals: to help tens of thousands of opium poppy farmers make a legal living, and to win hearts and minds away from the former Taliban government.<br><br>The author and his friends were soon caught up in the deadly intrigues of Helmand'sdrug trafficking warlords.&nbsp; He found himself dodging Taliban in poppy-filled mountain ravines and arguing with murderous, AK-47 toting bandits in police uniform.&nbsp; He saw both the stark beauty and the terrible cruelty that Afghans live with every day.&nbsp; At the height of his team?s success, the Taliban attacked, killing his colleagues and destroying their work.&nbsp; These ambushes heralded a Taliban resurgence across the country; they also showed the weaknesses in America's strategy that continue to undermine every American accomplishment in Afghanistan.<br><br>This is a riveting story of intrigue, adventure, and tragedy at the far edge of the world.&nbsp; In the tradition of <i>The Places In Between</i> and <i>The Kite Runner,</i> OPIUM SEASON describes the odyssey of an American chasing a seemingly impossible goal in the midst of chaos.&nbsp; It will draw national attention from the media and from book readers hungry to understand this shattered, beautiful country and its deeply divided people.</div></div></div>