New York Times reporter Thom Shanker wrote an interesting article today about the war on drugs in Afghanistan. If you read only the first 3/4 of his story, you might walk away extremely frustrated by the Pentagon's request to further invest hundreds of millions of dollars into this side of the war on terrorism.

Shanker writes:

The American military will significantly increase its role in halting the production and sale of poppies, opium and heroin in Afghanistan, responding to bumper harvests that far exceed even the most alarming predictions, according to senior Pentagon officials.

...

To support the new effort, the Defense Department is requesting $257 million, more than four times the amount last year, in emergency financing for military assistance to the counternarcotics campaign, in addition to the $15.4 million in the Pentagon's budget for fiscal 2005, which began last Oct. 1.

So you may ask, as I did, why does the U.S. government want $272 million?

Especially with Veterans pay being cut along with a multitude of other "at home" spending??

But read on ...

Shanker continues:

The official modifications to the guidelines, now being finalized, are aimed at a poppy harvest that rose 64 percent in 2004, making Afghanistan the world's leading source of heroin and opium.

There is wide consensus in the government and the military and among humanitarian organizations that the drug trade now threatens all of America's goals in Afghanistan. Terrorists and insurgents there finance their activities largely with drug revenues, and the trade could undermine the nascent democratic government of President Hamid Karzai, who has called for a holy war against the opium trade.

...

One military officer who has served in Afghanistan gave a more pointed assessment: "What will be history's judgment on our nation-building mission in Afghanistan if the nation we leave behind is Colombia" of the 1990's?

Up to now, the American military's primary role in the effort involved training Afghan military and police officers, and supplying them with weapons and other equipment. But that has already begun to change in recent weeks.

On March 15 the American military in Afghanistan provided transportation and a security force for 6 D.E.A. officers and 36 Afghan narcotics policemen who raided three laboratories in Nangahar Province. One laboratory was described by officials as a primary source of Afghan opium.

...

"We know the military is not the best tool for fighting drugs," said one senior Pentagon official. "We have the best troops in the world. We did in days what the Soviets could not do in a decade. But this is not about burning crops or destroying labs. Eventually it is about finding a better option for Afghans who have to feed their families."

To read Shanker's entire article, go to:

If on the surface you think the government is not spending money in the right place, from a systemic point of view, it seems like the Pentagon is doing the right thing.

Associated Press photographer, David Guttenfelder, captured the above photo of an Afghan policeman last May near Kandahar yielding bundles of poppy buds.

This illustration helps drive home the impact poppy production is having on helping to fund terrorism.

Let us also not forget that we need to focus time, effort and money to decrease the demand for these illicit narcotics.

Thank you Thom Shanker for this insightful perspective, and for getting us to think deeper about the systemic issues around drugs and terrorism.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "nipping drugs and terrorism in the bud" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC