Afghanistan NATO s Classic Self-Defeating Exercise
Below is a MRR and PLR article in category Finance -> subcategory Other.
Afghanistan: NATO's Classic Self-Defeating Exercise
Summary
In 2007, Afghanistan's opium production was projected to skyrocket to over 53% of its GDP, revealing the ineffectiveness of the vast sums spent on poppy eradication and crop substitution efforts since the Taliban's ousting in 2001. An officer from the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime admitted, under anonymity, that their efforts seemed futile. If you think you understand the Afghan situation, it's time to reconsider. Politicians, generals, and journalists alike appear uncertain about both their information and conclusions.
Article
If you think you understand what's happening in Afghanistan today, think again. The very individuals providing insights?"politicians, generals, and journalists?"are themselves unsure about their facts and conclusions.
Recently, Afghanistan's opium production was revealed to possibly exceed 53% of the national GDP in 2007. When questioned about the effectiveness of the hundreds of millions spent on poppy eradication and crop substitution since 2001, an officer in the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime confessed, “We don’t appear to achieve anything credible. We just do our best, year after year.”
An Afghan volunteer with NATO's drug eradication program explained the challenges: over 660 tons of opium and morphine, worth $4 billion, were exported last year. Small farmers are urged to grow substitutes, but they claim they don’t own the land and have no titles. Warlords and clerics, not farmers, control cultivation, but the volunteer was uncertain if drug kingpins, pro-Taliban Mullahs, and radicals were allied.
In 1978, Afghanistan had few poppy fields and was self-sufficient in food. The government planned economic progress through land reforms and debt cancellations, hoping to improve agricultural productivity. A foreign economist visiting at the time pointed out the need for significant rural investments.
However, the Soviet-Afghan war derailed these prospects. Land records were destroyed, and armed tribal chiefs forced laborers to grow poppies. Militias, under leaders like Osama Bin Laden, opened new drug routes. Village Mullahs discouraged reforms by claiming that land belonged to Allah, not communists.
Today, land title issues are even more chaotic. Refugee families receive land but lack access to credit, falling into debt. Kabul's officials struggle to formalize land titles amidst widespread possession by a tiny percentage who own most fertile land.
Though not unusual in the third world, Afghanistan's landholding disparities are worsened by the absence of a secure title system and the focus on profitable poppy cultivation.
Consider more alarming statistics: the wholesale price of a gram of heroin in Afghanistan is $2.50, rising to $3.50 in neighboring countries and $22-$33 in Europe. Retail prices are even higher. The economic impact of Afghan poppies is vast.
Serious questions remain about so-called extremists?"are Al Qaeda and the Taliban simply drug traders? An Afghan border guard noted their lack of mosque attendance as carts transported weapons and contraband.
Crucially, who besides militants profits from opium? Are law enforcement agencies complicit? What war is NATO truly fighting when some Karzai government backers allegedly benefit from the opium boom?
Without addressing these fundamental issues, discussions about Afghanistan's reconstruction remain hollow and disconnected from reality.
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