We need to decide which war on a generic description is more important, the “war on drugs” or the “war on terror”? Since the collapse of the Taliban, opium cultivation has sky-rocketed in Afghanistan, as locals seek to build a wealthy future. The coalition response has been to attack these fields, burn them, and otherwise discourage this activity. These efforts have been massively unsuccessful:

Afghanistan’s 2007 opium poppy cultivation could expand again after last year’s record crop, the U.N. drug agency said Monday, underlining the weakness of an international-backed drive against the country’s booming narcotics trade.

. . . “This winter survey suggests that opium cultivation in Afghanistan in 2007 may not be lower than the record harvest of 165,000 hectares in 2006,” UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa wrote in the report’s preface.

Last year, opium cultivation rose an alarming 59 percent, deepening fears that Afghanistan is rapidly becoming a narco-state. Officials say Taliban militants protect southern farmers and tap drug profits to fuel their insurgency.

One of the most important factors in determining whether an attempted regime change is successful or not is the support of the populace. If the people offering the new government legitimacy and trust in its abilities, it will be successful. If support for the old guard continues, however, it will threaten and possibly topple the new regime before it can ever get off the ground. This is what we now face in Afghanistan, and it is entirely unnecessary. Our fight against opium has encouraged farmers to turn to Taliban thugs for protection. In return, they get drug money to fund their attacks on coalition forces.

We need to tell farmers that their opium cultivation will be tolerated for the time being, but an affiliation with the Taliban will not. Burn those fields that are supporting terrorists, leave alone those that are not. For the time being, the incentive structure will serve to lessen Taliban influence on the populace. Then, after the fledgling Afghani government has established itself, efforts can be made to turn opium fields into non-narcotic production, such as wheat. But as long as we prioritize the war on drugs, we will be in grave danger of losing the war on terror in Afghanistan.

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