Losing to both the Taliban and the Poppy

The president-elect of the United States will be inaugurated against a very tough economic and political background. there's no need to debate the part about the economy because its effects are felt almost universally now. All that's being debated is whether the auto industry in the US should be supported with tax payers money or not. Still, with the very well-chosen team at the Treasury and the advisors at hand, I am confident that the new administration will steer the economy excellently.

To my mind, the more precarious situation is the one regarding the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There are no prizes for guessing that here too, one is going far better than the other. Indeed, Iraq is momentarily stable and the big decisions only relate to the draw down date for the US troops. regarding Afghanistan, I think that the administration will have to consider its options more clearly and redefine the theory of engagement because the Taliban are not only resurgent but the neigbourhood has became less stable with the attacks on Mumbai by terrorists earlier this month.

I do not have ready answers for Obama but as I have stated on this blog severally and more specifically here, the main objective in Afghanistan ought to be to beat the Taliban. This task is difficult enough on its own without conflating it unnecessarily with the fight to eradicate opium poppy. As this story in the Guardian states, there's already corruption and the beneficiaries of the drugs trade are the more influential politicians and large farmers. Clearly, it is the economic imperative that leads the villagers to prefer opium poppy in spite of the lack of rain. It suggests that the fight is not about the eradication of plants though the fear and loathing of the Taleban is more widespread.