NATO Commander Says Opium is Winning Afghan War

The good war that Mr. Bush fought in Afghanistan is turning out like the bone-headed one he opted to fight in Iraq, which is to say it is turning out badly. General Rick Hillier the Canadian who leads the NATO force there (yes, a Canadian), said the effects of the opium trade are so dire that September's already delayed elections may need to be postponed.

The problem, as the General sees it, is one of NATO assets -- there aren't enough of them in Afghanistan. He has 6,500 troops in the International Security Assistance Force; New York City has 40,000 cops by way of comparison. Clearly, there are NATO troops elsewhere that could be deployed, but they are busy not effectively occupying Iraq.

Nature abhors a vacuum, and a power vacuum in particular. The local warlords do not have a police force or army against which to contend, and the opium poppy has grown there for centuries. With a source of funding from the drugs trade, the local warlords have absolutely no need to deal with the regime of President Hamid Karzai. They are de facto independent, and not necessarily pro-western.

The one thing that could undermine the local strongmen is a national election that the world judges to have been an honest and fair expression of the people's will. The last thing they want is an election. And so, they have begun terror campaigns here are there to prevent an honest vote. So, 11 Chinese who came to Afghanistan to build a road get butchered in their sleep.

The Karzai regime has won some pledges of money from the west, but right now, boots on the ground will matter more. The national army is meant to total 70,000, and it is about 60,000 short. General Hillier said, "With the assets I have now, I can't take on more." Clearly, someone needs to get the General more of everything. Anyone in Paris or Berlin listening?


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


Home