Opium is the perfect solution.

[Shanti Mama]

Why doesn't the US government buy up the entire crop of Afghan opium?

I think this would cost about $8billion, a minuscule fraction of the costs of war without even considering LIVES. If we could buy directly from Afghan farmers it would cost even less. The Taliban would not be able to extort or in any other way profit from the crop and would be significantly weakened financially. Then our fighting forces could just leave and let the country begin to sort itself out. Perhaps those US forces working in development could stay; with the Taliban underfunded and less able to attract/retain members maybe we could tidy up some of the deadly chaos we created.

This move could even be spun for the "other" crowd. We'd be taking the opium out of the market rather than letting it find its way to US streets. Of course, neighbors to our south would do their best to fill the void, but that's another story.

What would we do with our national cache?

[ret5hd]

1. You don't think the CIA would object to ending their cash cow?

[Echo In Light]

7. lol

[the other one]

2. A cynic might argue

That we are in Afghanistan to make it easier to get the drugs home so as to provide a reason to fight the war on drugs even harder. More drugs on the street means more need for cops and prisons, things in line with goals of many who also support escalation. A cynic might say.

[mattvermont]

3. a realist might say the same nt

[Democracyinkind]

4. It's not just cynics who say that. Anyone who has studied the dealings of Far West Ltd. kinda thinks

the same things...

It's the Black Masonic Club reloaded with a bit of Iran-Contra MO thrown in for good measure.

Whose war is this? Who is the Afghan connection.? Two questions america needs to ask and get answered ASAP.

[Winterblues]

13. And an even more cynical person might even believe

that since drugs are often found in the inner cities (think black) that a substantial portion of possible Democratic voters can either be sidelined by drug usage or felony conviction... I am almost certain that was the logic behind the creation of Crack plus the funding could support the dirty little Contra War........

[shraby]

5. Before we invaded, their opium crop was nil...the Taliban

wouldn't allow farmers to plant poppies. After invasion, with the Taliban gone, poppy fields bloomed.

[Democracyinkind]

11. That's only partly true.

Indeed, they did outlaw poppies in some parts, but whether that was theologically motivated or just some kind of market reorganization is up for dispute. Gulbudin Hekmatyar certainly never stopped planting, dealing and wheeling, and that goes for most of the Taliban-associated warlords too. Also, in 2001 the Taliban-gov still claimed a significant income from foreign trade and no one has ever figured out how that would have been possible without considering opium revenue. I don't know the exact numbers but I can dig them up- the definitive statement that the Taliban and opium are mutually exclusive defies reality, as documented in many books (lately seeds of terror, earlier Scott et al.)

[guitar man]

6. Great idea

And we give all the opium we buy to Rush Limbaugh, he ODs and then we have solved two problems for a relative bargain, :evilgrin:

[Shanti Mama]

10. Any you've hit the jackpot!

[guitar man]

12. :)

:hi:

[northernlights]

8. we could use it to make morphine nt

[Romulox]

9. We've failed at the Drug War in the US. What in the world makes us think we can win one there?

And furthermore, by what right does the US claim to be the world's drug cop? :shrug:

[Lochloosa]

14. The DEA would never allow it. It sends "The Wrong Message"