Should We Tolerate And Work With Drug Lords To Bring Peace In Afghanistan?

Hamid Karzai Blames Britain For Taliban Resurgence
-- Times Online

The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has blamed Britain for the resurgence of the Taliban and its growing activity in large tracts of the country.

His remarks, made to Afghan MPs, follow a clash with Gordon Brown over the Kabul regime’s links with warlords and drugs barons.

Karzai claims Brown has threatened to withdraw British troops from Helmand province, where 31 of them have died this year, if the president reinstates two provincial governors sacked for alleged dealings in the heroin trade.

One of them is Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, the former governor of Helmand, who was forced out under British pressure two years ago after nine tons of opium and heroin were discovered in his basement. Karzai’s plan to reinstate the governors has alarmed western diplomats in Kabul and dismayed British officials.

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My Comment: Because of a lack of resources and a commitment of troops from Nato countries, the Afghan Government and their Nato allies are forced into a strategy in which they must take the best option from a list of bad alternatives. Dealing with Drug Lords is one of them.

The drug industry in Afghanistan fuels the Taliban insurgency. In an ideal world, it would be best to have enough soldiers and resources to provide security and employment to the men in the region, and that drugs would not be even an issue. Unfortunately, the reality on the ground is that it is the Taliban who rule the regions, and it is they who supervise the farming, cultivation, and processing of opium.

For Afghan's President Karzai, the choice is to fight a losing battle with the Taliban on the issue of drugs and the monies that it brings to destitute farmers, or co-opt the drug trade from the Taliban and run it with your allies. But running it you at least improve the security situation, as well as cutting the Taliban from their number one source of revenue.

If I was in President Karzai's shoes, I would take over the drug trade and run it with my allies and hope that with time .... after the Taliban have been driven out of the area and the security situation has improved .... assitance and development progams can be implemented that would slowly wean Afghan farmers away from poppy cultivation. But lets us not kid ourselves .... for this to occur and be successful, it is going to take a very long time.