Weekend Update: A new report by the UN released this week says that one province of Afghanistan, Helmand, produces an astonishing 50% of the country's opium crop and it's production is up 48% over last year. An increase in opium production was expected, but the amount is "frightening". The British, as part of a NATO force, are supposedly responsible for reconstructing Helmand, but are encountering stiff resistance from a resurgent Taliban that controls the drug trade and uses it to finance their resistence. Afghanistan now leads the world in opium production and is estimated to produce 8200 tons this year. Only China a hundred years ago had as much arable land devoted to opium production as Afghanistan. UN officials note that the Karzai government's "benign tolerance of corruption" contributes to the explosion in opium.
[first posted 11-13-06]
A report by the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board, a body of Afghan and international officials in charge of overseeing development and reconstruction, says that insurgent activities have increased fourfold this year. Attacks are running 600 a month and 3,700 afghans died in 2006 from the fighting. The poppy crop has also increased 59% and, of course, the insurgents are using drug money to fuel their resistance in four southern provinces.
Since good ideas are few and far between in Washington right now, I would like to second a suggestion made recently in the LA Times. The U.S. and its NATO allies should begin purchasing the entire annual poppy crop in Afghanistan. Eradication efforts have obviously failed. Afghan peasants are very loath to give up poppy farming. Its one of the few sources of cash in rural Afghanistan. If the US successfully cornered the market, two good things could be accomplished. The international heroin trade would be reduced and the insurgents would be suffer a severe reduction in their war fighting capability. Rural Afghans would see a program that brings government money directly into their village economies as a positive development instead of being disillusioned by the current lack of government help. A purchasing program would be expensive, but the expense could be reduced if the crop is resold to pharmaceutical companies that produce opium derivative medications. If we can waste billions in Iraq, we can afford to take a novel approach to an old problem in Afghanistan.
[first posted 11-13-06]
A report by the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board, a body of Afghan and international officials in charge of overseeing development and reconstruction, says that insurgent activities have increased fourfold this year. Attacks are running 600 a month and 3,700 afghans died in 2006 from the fighting. The poppy crop has also increased 59% and, of course, the insurgents are using drug money to fuel their resistance in four southern provinces.
Since good ideas are few and far between in Washington right now, I would like to second a suggestion made recently in the LA Times. The U.S. and its NATO allies should begin purchasing the entire annual poppy crop in Afghanistan. Eradication efforts have obviously failed. Afghan peasants are very loath to give up poppy farming. Its one of the few sources of cash in rural Afghanistan. If the US successfully cornered the market, two good things could be accomplished. The international heroin trade would be reduced and the insurgents would be suffer a severe reduction in their war fighting capability. Rural Afghans would see a program that brings government money directly into their village economies as a positive development instead of being disillusioned by the current lack of government help. A purchasing program would be expensive, but the expense could be reduced if the crop is resold to pharmaceutical companies that produce opium derivative medications. If we can waste billions in Iraq, we can afford to take a novel approach to an old problem in Afghanistan.
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