UNBELIEVABLE. Anne Applebaum is making sense. I know; I'm just as surprised as you are. Today she argues that the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan should abandon poppy eradication in favor of a quasi-legalization strategy designed to bring opium cultivation out of the legal netherworld. Such a move might well undercut Taliban influence with Afghan opium growers who have come to view Coalition forces as a threat. In a case like this, it doesn't really matter whether the Taliban supports opium growing or not, because it can take advantage of the fact that local farmers are breaking the law to supply protection and acquire information. Destroying fields also increases the hostility of local farmers. I rarely disagree with Jason Sigger, but this is an issue on which we differ. Jason thinks that the best strategy is one of denial; burn the fields, or step up interdiction. I'm convinced that such a strategy will simply exacerbate the problem, and that the best option is, as Applebaum describes, quasi-legalization.
--Robert Farley
