The Americans are facing a lot of headaches in Afghanistan. Karzai has not prospered beyond being the Mayor of Kabul. The various warlords in the US propped government are secretly at each other’s throats. The other NATO allies are not coughing up more troops and military hardware for Afghanistan. But the biggest headache is the Taliban.
They just refuse to go away. One of the reasons for their being so sturdy is the ready haven they enjoy in the tribal areas of Pakistan. But the mainstay of their strength has been the heroin trade in Afghanistan. The Afghan Counter Narcotics minister has raised fears that the Taliban is trying to procure the deadly Stinger missiles. It must be the noted that one of the major reasons why the Soviet forces had to leave Afghanistan with their tails between the legs was that the US-supplied Stingers had played havoc with Russian helicopters.
Now, it is possible that what befell the Soviets years ago may happen to the Americans. This is not an exaggeration. Although Taliban fighters are presently make doing with rocket-propelled grenades and light machine guns against US copters. But the chances of them getting hold of Stingers or the British made Blowpipe missiles are good. What with all the latest arms being available from the Russian mobs and the arms peddlers in Eastern Europe.
It is merely a matter of time. Taliban has the money. The poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is keeping it flush with drug money. So we see the root of the problem for the Americans in that country is the widespread poppy cultivation (besides of course the haven in Pakistani tribal areas). And the problem is such that it is defying a solution.
It is not that the US planners are not alive to the gravity of the situation. But stopping poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is proving to be impossible. It is the only source of livelihood to many poor Afghan farmers. Poppy cultivation is hassle free and more remunerative than sowing other crops. The US had advocated aerial spraying to destroy the deadly crop last year, but Karzai had adamantly refused to agree. Rightly so, as such an act would have destroyed whatever goodwill Karzai and the US forces enjoy in the country. Anyway spraying has not given satisfactory results in Colombia, where the US has experimented with the option.
