How Can the Taliban Be Defeated in Afghanistan?

Fighting the Taliban Without Alienating the People in Afghanistan

May 3, 2009

The NATO strategy in Afghanistan must be a careful balance between fighting the Taliban insurgency and becoming a force in the economic reconstruction of the country.

The debate whether to send more troops to Afghanistan continues in the U.S. and among NATO allies. American commanders are planning to send an additional 20,000 Marines and soldiers into the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul, where the Taliban is strong. Here the local farmers rely on poppy cultivation for their livelihood. And the Taliban pay farmers premiums for poppies to finance their insurgency. Heavy fighting is expected, since the Taliban will vigorously defend their grip on the region.

Opium Money Finances Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan

The opium production is directly linked to the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan.The Taliban are using profits from selling poppies to finance their insurgency and recruit young men and children to fight against civilians and the Afghan government. "Opium is their financial engine," says Brig. Gen John Nicholson, the deputy commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan.

The poppy that produces opium and heroin and fuels the international drug trade is a complex issue for military and civilian leaders. Poppy cultivation is the main source of income for a large segment of the Afghan population. Attempting to eradicate poppy fields in Afghanistan is counterproductive, the United States' top envoy to the country Richard Holbrooke says: "It would strip the Afghan people of their livelihood and push the farmers into the Taliban's hands (UPI.com)."

How To Strip the Taliban of Their Profits?

More than 90 percent of the world's heroin comes from Afghan opium and the illegal trade in the drug is worth over four billion dollars (three billion euros) per year, according to the United Nations.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that Afghanistan's poppy fields produced 93 percent of the world's opium in 2007. The potential production could be as high as 8,200 metric tons. UNODC also confirms that the bulk of the revenue from the poppy harvest goes directly to the Taliban and to local warlords.

Experts agree that the long-term solution lies in creating new agricultural jobs. One suggestion is for the United States to buy the poppies from farmers in order to deprive the Taliban of its profits. "We don't have to smoke the stuff once we have purchased it: It can be burned or thrown away or perhaps more profitably used to manufacture the painkillers of which the United States currently suffers a shortage..." , argues Christopher Hitchens in Slate.

U.S. Takes Lessons From Dutch Military

Dutch forces in Afghanistan have been effective in understanding that the civilian components of a counterinsurgency strategy need to be intertwined with the military. Dutch soldiers say they are ingrained with the concept that economic development will be their primary mission, rather than solely pursuing extremists and Taliban fighters (WSJ, April30, 2009) The Netherlands have invested in irrigation projects in Uruzgan designed to produce fertile ground and saffron cultivation. Improving the agricultural sector creates jobs and increases the export of agricultural produce from Afghanistan.

Focus on Defense, Diplomacy and Development in Afghanistan

Stimulating Afghanistan’s economic independence is one of the priorities of the new Afghanistan strategy discussed at an international conference in the The Hague in April.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was full of praise for the Dutch effort after meeting with Maxine Verhagen, the Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs: "In fact, the Dutch '3D' approach -- defense, diplomacy, and development pursued simultaneously ... is a model for our own efforts and the future efforts in Afghanistan. (WSJ)"

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