(Navy Times) Editorial: Investing in the future

[unhappycamper]

Investing in the future

A new NATO agreement promises to step up attacks on narcotics trafficking in Afghanistan, hoping to divert some of the estimated $100 million that flows into Taliban pockets from the poppy trade each year. It is a good first step in cutting off the weapons purchased with that money and later used against U.S. troops in the region, but it’s not enough.

The agreement doesn’t specifically target the poppy fields, which produce an estimated 90 percent of the world’s heroin, for fear of disrupting that delicate balance and sending farmers in droves to enlist in the insurgency. But killing the fields is like cutting the head off the snake, stopping it at the source.

Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to separate the drug lords, rebel groups and terrorist cells from their steady streams of illicit cash without undermining those who grow, harvest and package the crops as a method of sheer survival. From Colombia to Bolivia to Afghanistan, the lack of a profitable alternative to growing the coca and poppies used to produce cocaine and heroin has kept many farmers in the business, despite the risks.

Still, ending the drug trade in Afghanistan could be swift. Hiding a field of poppies in Afghanistan is a much harder endeavor than concealing a coca operation in the thick jungles of South America.

The key to success is taking care of the farmers who will feel the pinch the most. Some troops are doing that very thing in Afghanistan right now, offering modern farming advice in the hopes of seeing poppies replaced with wheat.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/community/opinion/navy_editorial_future_102708/%2e