Why the United States Should Buy ALL the Opium in Afghanistan

One of the great existential problems facing Western culture generally, and America specifically is our “happy drive” -we justify almost any means to feel happy. The implications are far reaching and sometimes indiscernible. Thus one means to achieve happiness in our smile-craving society is easily identifiable, drugs, opium. However the effects of our pursuit of smiles through opium are far less obvious. All this is directly tied to our boots-on-the-ground war in Afghanistan, and may actually offer us an unprecedented opportunity. Hear me out.

The history of opium use in the US goes back to the mid nineteenth century, and is connected to every day terms like snake-oil salesman and hippies ( those who lay on their sides in a opium induced stupor, and developed hip ailments). Opium has both a physical and more symbolic affect on our society. Despite the DEA’s efforts and our tax dollars, opium, in the guise of heroin, continues to afflict the US - both as a destructive drug and as a major cause behind the spread of HIV/AIDS. Its affects are also more subtle as the relationship between the materialistic/superficial tendencies of American culture and drug use (illicit and otherwise) is often used a propaganda tool of the anti-west coalitions. Islamists, are quick to point to the West/Americas decadence as reflected by its drug problem. Just as the Soviet Union was accused of facilitating drug use in America (true or false), as a way of undermining US society, and damming it.

Yet the opium problem has not gone away and unbeknownst to the general public, has actually grown exponentially in unforeseen ways. I am not talking so much about South America; that is primarily a cocaine and marijuana issue.Instead I refer to the international terrorist drug-cartel alliance. That terrorist groups like Hezbollah (Shiite) and Al Qaida (Sunni) use drug trade to finance their illicit activities is an old and well researched fact. Moreover the fact that our battle against drugs, one evil, is also a battle against terror, another evil, is not coincidental considering the unifying factor. Putting that aside.

Al Qaida and the Taliban should not be conflated –the former practices terror to destroy the West the latter for a disparate number of reasons. Regardless, both use Afghanistan’s number one cash-crop and export, opium, to fund their actions. Indeed according to some estimates 93 percent of global opium originates in Afghanistan, at a gross profit of over 64 billion. The ramifications of this are simple, if America destroys opium they also destroy the number one source of income for over 200,000 Afghan families. The Taliban and other associated terror groups buy the opium and the loyalty from the famers and export it for a exponential profit.
It is also true that Afghanistan experienced a decrease in opium use after the Taliban takeover in 1994, as its cultivation was seen as un-Islamic. At the same time the current reality stands; the anti-western factions in Afghanistan love their opium. Also true is the fact that the Petraeus/Obama approach has been to move away from targeting opium production, as it alienates the local tribesmen.Why don’t we go a step further.

Let us buy the opium at a higher price than the Taliban and “others” –all of it. Furthermore we should help develop and support an opium cartel in Afghanistan, thereby centralizing it and controlling it. What we do with the drugs is irrelevant to the producers. The bottom line is we have a unique opportunity here to cut off a major source of income to terror, and the global drug trade. Furthermore, it will be cheaper than our current strategy of dumping more troops into an impossible situation. As we have troops on the ground we can implement the strategy immediately, and ensure that it becomes a reality.

I wonder if the State Department considered this strategy and then rejected it because of the fear that we will perceived as facilitating the drug trade, or worse that our soldiers are actually the muscle protecting it.

Let us be realistic, we have a chance to take 93 percent of opium of the market, cripple terror funding, and even win in Afghanistan. Most importantly we should not forget that this opium strategy is central to our nation building approach. After all a coherent and functioning Afghan government means a government that can take control of a opium sector that we will have hopefully tamed. It is not as if the drug problem will disappear but that fact shouldn’t stop us from dealing the terrorists a resounding blow.