> For instance, the main export of Afghanistan seems to be illegal opium.
> Which results in a totally corrupt government, not to mention an extensive
> and well financed Taliban.
I was there mid-70s, before the Russian invasion. Not quite my idea of peacetime, with nearly every man in the countryside and a few in the cities packing rifles, but most of the guns then were muzzle loaders and used mainly against wolves raiding the sheep flocks. A whole lot more peaceful than any time since, though.
There was no visible opium. I had the long hair, moustache, VW van, wife in Indian wraparound skirts, ... the stereotypic hippy. Almost everyone we met offered us hashish, in quantities up to tens of kilos. No-one offered opium, though we'd seen a fair bit of that in the Shah's Iran. For all I know, it would have been available if we'd asked, but we didn't.
> Now the accepted solution is to suppress the production of opium poppies. To
> insist that farmers grow something else.
What about hash? Afghans do that really well, have done for centuries; its part of the culture. I fear the American gov't is stupid enough to try supressing that too.
> But why? Surely a more elegant solution would be to provide a legitimate
> outlet for the opium harvest? ,,,
Yes.
> The solution in Afghanistan is economic development, not military
> suppression. But the US has a big military, so it can't see that, all it can
> see is people to fight and kill. Unfortunately, so long as there is no
> solution to the economic problem, there will be an endless supply of
> Afghanis willing to enlist in the fight against the invaders.
>
> Come to think of it, maybe that's another potential export opportunity for
> Afghanistan. Military recruits. Western nations are having trouble
> recruiting their own people into the military, maybe they should open
> recruiting offices in the hills of Afghanistan? Again, something they seem
> to be good at...
Back in the days of the Raj, there were a lot of "Pathans" in British service, and they made fine soldiers, especially irregular cavalry. Regiments like the Guides and Skinner's Horse were famous on the frontier, and some served elsewhere. Those are the same Pushtu speakers who make up most of Taliban.
Britain has also got very fine service from Gurkhas, another mountain people, but from Nepal somewhat East of Af.
-- Sandy Harris, Fuzhou, Fujian, China