Civilian aid to Afghanistan will be restructured, Obama indicated in the speech. In particular, the United States will emphasize agricultural development instead of big reconstruction projects to revitalize the nation’s agriculture-based economy, Obama said, to make an “immediate impact in the lives of the Afghan people.”
A senior administration official explained that the adjustment was partially inspired after recent and relatively inexpensive U.S. military projects in Afghanistan to improve or repair irrigation canals proved “extremely popular” with the locals. Those “immediate impact” development projects would be expanded, the official said, and would benefit legal “agricultural output, as opposed to poppy,” which finances the insurgency and fuels Afghan governmental corruption.
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Spencer Ackerman, The Washington Independent This is, I believe, one of the most practical and underrated solutions in Afghanistan — converting poppy crops to sustainable agriculture. Right now, Afghanistan is the world’s number one producer of opium, with poppy cultivation increasing yearly at an alarming rate since 2004. Since the Taliban controls the farmers and reaps the profits, eradicating opium production would help cut off a major source of Taliban and al Qaeda funding and give the Afghan people more control. Of course it isn’t that simple; President Karzai’s brother has been linked to the opium trade, but small projects like those described above are a good start. (via thepoliticalpartygirl) |
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