Finally Some Sense in Afghanistan

For the last 16 years, the USA has been fighting in Afghanistan.  When he ran for president, Barack Obama called the Afghan fighting a war of necessity.  Nevertheless, in all that time, the USA never made a concerted effort to wipe out the production of narcotics.  That's right, poppy cultivation and the heroin it produces was never targeted despite 1) Afghanistan being a major supplier of narcotics that are streaming into the USA, and 2) poppy cultivation being the single largest source of funding for the Taliban.  The thought was that the USA didn't want to take away the livelihood of the Afghans who make a living by growing poppies and selling heroin.  Finally, President Trump has changed that decision, and American planes began taking out drug production centers in the last week.

Just imagine what will happen if the USA is able to cut off the production of drugs in Afghanistan.  First, the Taliban will be impoverished.  That alone will provide a major boost to the prospects for victory in Afghanistan.  Second, tons and tons of heroin will be removed from the market in the USA.  Our drug crisis will be lessened.  In other words, it will be a win-win.

For too long, America ran the Afghan war more concerned with niceties than with winning.  All the time we were worrying about the livelihood of farmers growing illegal crops that kill drug users around the world, we have been allowing the Taliban to raise billions of dollars by selling this cash crop.  It's about time, someone with some common sense is in charge of our efforts in Afghanistan.