Try a new approach in Afghanistan

Richard C. Trenkler, Las Vegas

Friday, Dec. 31, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

We are mired in Afghanistan, a country with a weak central government, rampant corruption and home to those who attacked us on 9/11, al-Qaida. The biggest crop in Afghanistan is the opium poppy. The crop affords many of its citizens the means to survive in a hardscrabble country. It also provides the Taliban, through the illegal drug trade, the means to afford its war against the Afghan people and al-Qaida, subsequently, a means of affording its war against us.

As a change in policy, why don’t we just buy the opium poppies from the farmers at a better price than they receive from the Taliban? I cannot imagine the farmers are paid much for their crop. Opium is used to make morphine and codeine, drugs we use in health care. Buying the farmers’ crops at better prices instead of destroying them would put the farmers in opposition to the Taliban as the farmers would have a better opportunity to improve their lot in life through us.

Buying the crop from farmers would provide direct aid to the citizens of Afghanistan, thus bypassing the filter of corruption. We would also cut off a major source of Taliban funding and reduce the available supply of opium for the illegal drug trade. As a final benefit, we would get something we use anyway in return for our money.