US, Iran Share A Common Enemy: Heroin -- Stephen Kinzer, Boston Globe
According to a principle of traditional geopolitics, countries should seek to help their friends and hurt their enemies. This sounds logical. It can also help assure, however, that enemies remain enemies. Sometimes it can lead countries to ignore their own interests as they seek to harm others.
Decisions about whether a particular country qualifies as a friend or an enemy are almost always based on the politics of the regime in power. This is too narrow a standard. Bad governments should not disqualify nations from American help, especially when that help also serves American interests.
A fine opportunity to test this approach now presents itself. The United States is cautiously negotiating with Iran after 35 years of bitter hostility. Many in Washington still consider Iran to be a font of evil — and certainly not a potential partner. Yet Iran and the United States share a great challenge that neither can deal with alone: opiate addiction.
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My Comment: Heroin is an enemy of mankind. Unfortunately .... even if the U.S. and Iran find some common ground to work together in stopping the trade .... the real effort must come from Afghanistan, and in that country there are just too many people involved in the heroin trade that any dent in it will probably be next to impossible.
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