Would Legalizing The Opium Trade Help America Win The War In Afghanistan?

Afghan men gather raw opium. (Reuters/Parwiz)

Abigail Hall-Blanco, Quartz: America risks losing the war on terror in Afghanistan unless it legalizes the opium trade

According to a recently released report by the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), opium production in Afghanistan has risen by 43% in the last year. The country’s drug trade employs some 2.9 million people—12% of the Afghan population—and generates approximately $68 billion in revenue a year.

This increase comes despite the fact that drug eradication policies have been a cornerstone of US policy in Afghanistan since the invasion in 2001. In fact, winning the war on drugs in Afghanistan has been described as essential for winning the war on terror. The US government has spent some $12 billion in eradication efforts—more than four times the size of the entire pre-invasion economy. Yet, Afghanistan now supplies around 90% of the world’s opium.

This expansion of the opium economy in the face of such vast prevention efforts is actually a wholly predictable consequence of US drug policy.

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WNU Editor: The Taliban are on a rampage right now in Afghanistan, and while cutting off their revenues from the opium trade will hurt them, I doubt it will be enough to cripple them.