It seems absurdly simple and much cheaper than what we’re doing now: Buy the poppy crop from Afghan farmers to deny the Taliban the funds they need to attack allied forces, and then destroy the poppy crop. According to this article from Die Welt columnist Ansgar Graw, if NATO can’t beat the Taliban on the battlefield, it should do so in the drugs trade.
For Die Welt, Ansgar Graw writes in part:
With full knowledge that next year, 2,800 Canadian soldiers will follow, the Taliban are celebrating the departure of the last 150 members of the original 1,950-strong Dutch unit. With troop withdrawals starting amid the rising power of the insurgency, a kind of apocalyptic mood has begun to spread.
The West must admit that its strategies have failed. Neither the originally “robust” military action taken by the United States, nor the networked approach of the Bundeswehr [German Army] provided the necessary breakthrough. The basic problem: far too often, the focus has been on strengthening Kabul. The goal of a new strategy must be to create, supply and finance real centers of influence in the provinces. Followers of the Taliban must be wooed with dedication in every region. Rather than setting poppy fields on fire, ISAF should buy the poppy crop at market prices and then destroy it, cutting the Taliban off from the heroin trade. The motto should be: if you can’t beat the enemy, buy him.
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