Afghanistan's Drug Problem

[JMA]

Temporarily, that is. Even in a best case scenario you won't cut off the whole crop, and they'll plant a lot more carefully next year... and the year after that you'll be drawing down. And of course the Als will be fed infinite amounts of footage showing Americans blowing up irrigation systems, spraying herbicides on crops, and generally throwing Afghan farmers into penury. Those claims will be believed, true or not, and the beneficiary of that belief will be AQ.

You may believe that the farmers of Helmand (and other areas) have a right to produce poppies (which as become the chief crop since the Soviet invasion of the 80s). You are entitled to that opinion... but your reasoning is not intelligent. So out with it now what is the real reason you oppose the return to the virtually poppy free status quo of the pre-Soviet invasion period?

Oh yes... and save the AQ scare mongering for a pure USian audience... it does not have the same persuasive effect outside the US. Yes there will be a propaganda campaign started by the druglords and that will have to be countered. I would simply find out what coercion the Taliban used to all but eradicate poppy cultivation in 2001 and suggest to the US's Afghan partners that the same methods be adopted.

So instead of fighting the Taliban we'll be fighting the entire Afghan state - nominal government, actual government, and Taliban - ... at a time when we've barely the resources to fight the Taliban.

That's what I said when I commented on the Marines focus on the Taliban when the entered Helmand in 2010. It of course begs the question why the US insists on remaining in Afghanistan rather than diminishes the need to act against 90% of the worlds opium production.

This quote from Ben Anderson's book 'No Worse Enemy' is apt:

In July (2011), Ghulam Haider Hamidi, mayor of Kandahar, was killed. He and his daughter had returned to Afghanistan from the USA, believing they could help their homeland. A few months later, his daughter left Afghanistan again, saying it was in ‘360 degrees of chaos’ and she had lost all hope: ‘America came to Afghanistan and aligned itself with the very people who destroyed Afghanistan and who continue to destroy Afghanistan: warlords, drug lords, gun lords.’

Hasn't worked terribly well in the past... the track record of crop eradication programs is not good.

US programs you are talking about I believe? Yes it will be important to get another nation to lead on this. The Russians and Iranians are suffering the most from the Afghan opium production so maybe open the door for either/or or both to come in.

That's assuming you get all of it, which you won't... and again, the reduction will be temporary. Eradication will get harder every year - they won't stop planting, they'll just hide it more effectively - and full production will resume as soon as we draw down, which is clearly in the cards. You're likely to impose a large new burden and significant additional risk on an already overstretched force to achieve a gain that's temporary at best.

Again I am interested why you to almost want the opium production in Afghanistan to continue. Kind of like the 'hippie' arguments of the 60s. Are you perhaps pro drug legalisation across the board or just supportive of the Afghan poppy growers?

Those in the field apparently believe that seizing that opportunity would raise a hornet's nest that they don't want to deal with. I don't think either of us is in a position to say that this is not the case, or to anticipate what local reaction would be. Opinions from those who are or recently have been in the field in Afghanistan would be good to hear.

You remind me of Bertrand Russel's quotation and you will (I guess) be hoping that someone will come up with a contribution to support your position. Holding thumbs for you

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. – Bertrand Russell

It is of course not that there is no effort against opium production. There is... it is just that the Brit efforts there are just as inept as US efforts elsewhere.

'Britain's war against Afghan opium production is failing'