New Afghanistan strategy?

Gordon Brown will apparently unveil our new Afghanistan strategy today.  Six (or is it now seven?) years after our engagement there began.  Good.  We need a new plan because the old one isn't working.

If General Petraeus is as smart in adapting strategy and tactics in Helmand as he was in Iraq, we can prevail.

Hopefully whatever new plan Brown unveils, it will not involve trying to destroy the local farmers’ cash crop.  I think it's fair to say that trashing small farmers crops, in any country or any conflict, is not a good way to their "win hearts and minds".

Posted on 29 April 2009 by Douglas Carswell

Comments

GB has hidden depths, doesn't he. Banker, doctor, and now The Greatest General of All Time - is there no end to this man's talents?
/sarc
Couldn't agree more on the subject of opium. The sundry Dangerous Drugs Acts are among the oldest and most pernicious of all the junk legislation on the books. It is none of your business what curious substances I choose to put into my own body - your concern is limited to what I might do under the influence and that is best addressed by incrasing the penalties for whatever bad behaviour occurs - none of this "My client was drunk, M'lud, and didn't know what he was doing" plea nonsense. Scrap the lot (except for antibiotics - misuse of those really harms innocent third parties) and you automatically slash virtually all crime overnight.

Posted on 29 April 2009 09:03 by Disputin

As long as the farmer can prove that the crop of poppies is being used for something other then drugs I say no problem to not burning it down. But to just let farmers plant poppies for drugs ... I say burn baby burn!!!

Posted on 29 April 2009 09:23 by Jae Dawn

Where is genetic engineering when you really need it.Surely they can devise a disease that affects only poppies and spray the areas

Posted on 29 April 2009 10:12 by david

EUReferendum some long time ago had a piece on US cotton tarriffs. They used to grow lots of cotton there till US protectionism stopped it and they went over to poppies. Any chance that GB and Petreus could fix that?

Posted on 29 April 2009 10:19 by BrianSJ

90% of the worlds heroin comes from Afghanistan.
Crops of poppies are pretty hard to disguise ffrom being spotted from the air.

Most of the crop is in US controlled areas.

So the only crop burning going on is against the enemies of the Afghan warlords allied to the US and for photo ops.

Posted on 29 April 2009 10:23 by John

If it doesn't involve joining the US forces in operating outside NATO's rules of engagement it will have little effect on the Taleban.

Trying to defeat them (if that is still our Government's aim) cannot be achieved with a NATO police force, which is what the ROEs have resulted in.

Proper vehicles for proper jobs rather than relying on special forces vehicles for regular patrols, to improve survivability against IEDs.

Get more helicopters into theatre or we cannot take the battle to the Taleban.

We do want to 'win' don't we?

Posted on 29 April 2009 10:36 by Gareth

"GB has hidden depths, doesn't he. Banker, doctor, and now The Greatest General of All Time - is there no end to this man's talents?"
You know I thought almost the exact same thing, El Gordo has saved the world economy, prepared the UK for Swine flu and now will win the war agaisnt the Taliban, he even has time to crash test Nokias, a man without peer.

Posted on 29 April 2009 10:37 by DominicJ

Why not buy opium from Afganistan legally? There is a massive deficit in morphine provision in the NHS already which is hyperinflating prices from suppliers - imagine how much money could be saved per year simply by including the Afgani government and licenced manufacturers in Afganistan in the list of countries able to produce it.

Better yet, legalise opium production and sale in the uk for recreational purposes; the main problem with heroin use in this country is that it is controlled by feudalistic gangs on both sides of the supply chain which drives criminal activity and protectionist measures in the black market; imagine how quickly they would disappear if they suddenly found legally licenced, clean and safe producers able to supply opiates for both medical and recreational use freely?

Posted on 29 April 2009 13:32 by Thom

Disputin and Thom are both correct IMO.

The most significant point about the ridiculous drugs laws is that they are the strongest statement there is that you do not own your own body- that it is the property of your government. This is perhaps the strongest argument for deprohibition. They are the wedge that allow progressives to dictate what else we do with our bodies- from what we ingest at what time of day to what we do sexually, none of which is anyone's business but our own. We need to reaffirm- and "institutionalise" the individual's right to self ownership. From early progressive successes like the drugs laws and alcohol prohibition, restrictions and licensing lead all their other claims over us. The same people who banned these things are the ones who seek to stop us eating hamburgers and other verboten foods, for instance.

As Disputin says- if somebody takes a drug then commits a crime, that should be no excuse for the crime. But the law should focus on crimes, not "things which some people think may lead to crimes", let alone "things which some people think may make you chubby".

The Drugs Laws are the greatest legislative disaster of the twentieth century. They have to go.

Posted on 29 April 2009 16:23 by Ian B

"to what we do sexually, none of which is anyone's business but our own."...and the other consenting adults involved of course.

I own myself!!!

Posted on 30 April 2009 08:26 by DomincJ

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