The Afghan Poppy crop is a very knotty problem for NATO and rest of the world. The poppy crop converts into hard drugs which is sold in the west. The money from this drug trade fuels the Taliban. Who use the money to kill innocents and the British/Americans and others. So effectively, we are funding our own deaths. Now the theoretical solution is simple, make drugs free, so no more money for drugs, no more money for weapons and we can kick Taliban behinds!
But we have banned hard drugs, and as soon as you ban something for which there is demand, it will flood in via illegal means. But the supply and demand levers are pressed differently as I explored here.
So what do you do to control the Afghan crop in the absence of the economically aligned solution? I came across this research report which suggests that the only way to remove the crop is to give them an alternative crop (with at least equal revenues/income). But given the situation in Afghanistan, that is simply impossible with lack of irrigation, market places, infrastructure, credit, seeds, etc.
One proposal is to licence the Afghans to raise poppy to be used in medicines. Once you have licenced and legalised it, then you keep the Taliban out of the value chain. But legalised poppy growing is anathema to the Americans and that put paid to that one.
I quote more solutions from the report:
Another proposal would allow for continued cultivation, but with gradual reduction and replacement over a six- year period. There would have to be flexibility in the application of the law to allow growing to continue, but the proposal takes into account President Hamid Karzai's constant reminder to his international allies that this is a long-term problem. There are also proposals for micro-credit schemes to allow farmers to diversify into other areas, as well as for providing finance to improve agricultural conditions. Such schemes would enable, for example, the construction of 'delayed-action dams' to offset the effects of drought by conserving local water supplies. Other options would include low-level retraining schemes for those involved in cultivation and courses during which the 'student' would be paid while gaining the necessary skills for a future after poppy cultivation.
All in all, the proposed solutions are not easy and it certainly is not a silver bullet. We need to be prepared for many of our soldiers to die from the bullets of the enemy which we help to fund. It is the saddest irony indeed. Just reinforces my firmly held belief that when you violate the laws of economics, the ordinary people suffer.
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