Solving the Afghan Problem

According to the military a "surge" of just more troops in Afghanistan is not going to help. One big problem is the porous Pakistan border.

But a different type of surge is needed in Afghanistan, said Gen. David McKiernan, the top NATO commander there.

"There is no magic number of soldiers that are needed on the ground to win this campaign," McKiernan said. "What we need is security of the people. We need governance. We need reconstruction and development."

"Reconstruction and development" when have we heard this before. After the Russians pulled out, defeated by the US backed insurgents, the US just left Afghanistan to rot and gave no help to rebuild the country, leaving it ripe for the Taliban. Reconstruction and help with development would have helped Afghanistan develop into a decent country rather than degenerate into a fundamentalist Muslim state.

Another challenge is Afghanistan's unchecked drug trade, which reportedly is financing the violence.

"Ninety percent of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan, and much of that money ends up in the hands of warlords and other militants," Curtis said.

McKiernan said, "There is a clear linkage between 'narco' trafficking and financing of the insurgency."

Farmers had quit growing poppies when the Taliban made them quit. But with no Taliban they reverted to poppies as the best cash crop they had. One way to influence the financing of the militants is to subsidize the farmers to grow other crops. Even if it cost a few million, it would be cheaper than military action.

Source article here on CNN.