Gregory D.

Lee

Read Greg's bio and previous columns here

June 26, 2009

Obama Derails Progress in Eradicating Afghan Poppy Cultivation

President Barack Obama’s Special Representative on Afghan and Pakistani Affairs, Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, has decided that the feelings of Afghan poppy growers are more important than eliminating opium production that generates essential revenue to the Taliban to buy arms to kill American and NATO troops.

Ambassador Holbrook was quoted in the Washington Post saying, “Afghans are smart farmers . . . they just need the right kind of help from us.” I would modify his sentence to “Afghans are smart drug traffickers” . . .

Ambassador Holbrooke is the former Assistant Secretary of State under both the Carter and Clinton Administrations, and an advisor for the failed John Kerry campaign. He guided President Carter after the disastrous Iranian takeover of our embassy in Iran in 1979, which sparked the worldwide radical Islamic revolution against the West. Despite having one dismal diplomatic failure after another, President Obama has given him Carte Blanche to set administration policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

U.S military leadership initially felt that opium eradication was a law-enforcement, not military, mission. They correctly viewed themselves as soldiers, and not drug agents. Now they realize that the proceeds from opium production are the primary source of revenue for the Taliban to pay and equip its members. Just as progress is being made on that front, Ambassador Holbrooke steps in to stop it. He is more concerned with Afghan “farmers,” also known as drug conspirators, getting upset over U.S. and NATO forces eradicating their profitable poppy cultivation. Why isn’t he more concerned about the health and welfare of Americans and Europeans?

What escapes Ambassador Holbrooke is that these so-called Afghan “farmers” grow opium poppies because it is the biggest cash crop they can produce. They supply the many organized drug traffickers in the area with the essential ingredient of heroin. They have produced opium for centuries with few to no restrictions by the government, whose officials, even at the highest levels, receive regular bribe payments to maintain the status quo.

These growers don’t care who is in charge of Afghanistan. They just want to make as much money as they can. Unlike South American coca growers, who for centuries have produced the essential ingredient of cocaine as part of their culture to ward off high altitude sickness, Afghan opium poppy growers are different. They are in it strictly for the money and an opportunity to kill infidels. Ambassador Holbrooke’s severely flawed Afghan strategy is akin to Gen. Eisenhower scrubbing the D-Day invasion because French wine makers might side with the Nazis if their vineyards are trampled in the ruckus.

Stopping poppy cultivation is a necessity, and halting its eradication will only prolong the war and encourage Afghan farmers to produce even more. If we bombed German factories to halt the production of bombs and planes during World War II, why shouldn’t we eradicate the primary source of the Taliban’s revenue to continue its war efforts?

Surely Ambassador Holbrooke must realize that Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium in the world. He must know that Western Europe is the biggest consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, which floods its streets. And he must realize that upwards of 15 percent of heroin consumed in the U.S. originates from Afghanistan. Despite this, he wants to allow opium production to continue so the few “farmers” (in proportion to the total population), will not side with the Taliban?

NEWS FLASH: Afghan poppy growers already side with the Taliban and will grow something else only when they are forced to.

Ambassador Holbrooke’s plan to spend more of your tax money to drill wells and build roads will only result in Afghanistan’s opium growers getting a more robust illicit crop easily to market. Rather than forcing these criminals to stop this evil practice and produce legitimate export crops, Ambassador Holbrooke chooses to facilitate their illicit activities.

So long as opium production is tied directly to funding the Taliban’s and Al-Qaeda’s war efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, these people must to be held accountable for their role in the international drug trade.  

Allowing poppy cultivation to continue unchecked demonstrates the priorities of Ambassador Holbrook and the Obama Administration.  

Gregory D. Lee is a retired DEA Supervisory Special Agent who lived and worked in Pakistan. He can be reached through his website: www.gregorydlee.com.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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