Taliban’s increased activity in Afghanistan putting pressure on Pak: Report

Dear ANI:

Is someone finally paying attention? According to Associated Press, in an 7/21/09 article titled: AP sources: US debating payoffs to poppy growers, policy review is now underway to compensate Afghan farmers and sharecroppers to voluntarily give up poppy cultivation. This is to counter Taliban insurgents from paying farmers in advance for poppy cultivation, from which Taliban then funds the ongoing insurgency.

What the article does not explain is how implementing such a plan returns a spectacular profit, not only in saving lives and introducing alternative agriculture, but also by saving billions of dollars. Here is how we explained that in a 2006 article:

“Give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the earth.”

Archimedes, Third Century B.C.E.

At the halls of Congress, Archimedes is knocking at the doors. He is shouting, “Give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the earth!” He thinks we have forgotten the power of levers; that imbalances, along with a well-placed fulcrum, are powerful forces.

Since imbalances have their inherent powers, and even though Archimedes is not elected, suppose we give him an audience? One imbalance is the economic imbalance between nations, rich and poor. Sometimes they are so clearly in view that they are hard to see. Let’s look at a startling example that compares one rich nation, the US, with one of the poorest, Afghanistan.

Nowhere are differentials in balance points, what things cost and what people are paid, made more obvious than by this comparison.

The US produces every imaginable product and service. Afghanistan is the world leader in one, the production of opiates, which represents $2.8 billion in the Afghan GDP, almost 30%!

Afghanistan produces 93% of the world’s opiates, for which poor Afghan farmers receive $700 million dollars. In stark contrast, rich OECD nations incur a ‘societal cost’ from opiate problems of $217 billion dollars annually. The cost differential is $216.3 billion! This is leverage! Archimedes question is: How can we leverage the existing price differentials into cash?

Using the OECD price differential, fully compensate poppy farmers for ‘not’ cultivating their crops. (And for the next ten years, allowing for civil, crop and/or occupational adjustments.) Pay the Afghan government an additional $2.1 billion to make up for their GDP loss. Add $2.8 billion to provide needed development to sustain domestic recovery and democratization. Results: No loss of farmer income–No government loss of income–$5.6 billion yearly to build democratic institutions–No civil unrest or increased poverty–Stabilization for the geographic region.

Side Effects: Loss of major funding for insurgency and terror, reducing revenues of al-Queda, Taliban, druglords, mafia and other criminal interests. Pacification in Pakistan.

Pass Along Benefits: OECD nations save $217 billion ‘societal cost of opiates’ each year, now made available for other uses, both domestic and otherwise.

What makes economic leverage unique? It gains power from dollars made available by reduced narcotics related costs at home. It is a simple concept; bad expense money saved, not money from additional taxation. It enables richer nations to lend generous support to poor nations, without cost but with economic and social profit? Perhaps Archimedes has finally found a place to stand in Washington? Eureka! Let us all hope that this opportunity will not be missed.

The Economist wrote this on Jan 6, 2007: Afghanistan’s opium crop: Much gain, less pain–“Here is an even bolder idea: an American security writer, Walton Cook, has argued that simply paying Afghan poppy farmers not to grow poppies would be cheap compared to the social cost of heroin use.” waltoncook@publicpolicypress.com