Maybe this reflects a policy taken by default as the decisions were made lower and lower down the command chain. A short article on the US Army's last planned brigade deployment in Kandahar Province:http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013...n-poppies/all/

The last two paragraphs:
The Americans changed their approach to poppies in order to win over the countless Afghans who need poppies to survive.

In that sense it might be too late for America’s hands-off poppy policy to work. As Gackstatter and his 2nd Platoon are learning, the war over Afghan poppies was probably lost years ago. And the U.S., now eying the exit after more than a decade of battle, is the loser.