Afghanistan’s Forgotten Farmers Could Be Obama’s Strongest Ally

Our generation came of age in era of digital war. Distant battles were fought on the sands of the fertile crescent and in the mountains of South Asia. Only news of their skyrocketing death counts awakening us to their toll. Without a draft or a combat home front, we, as a nation, have benefited from a largely removed experience of war.

Nevertheless, a newly politically active and largely Obama-crazed group of young American citizens have wiped their hands of these wars on terror, calling on the new President to withdraw immediately from the dual quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Obama, however, seems to have a different agenda.

Among the two wars launched by the Bush administration, President Obama has displayed keen interest in continuing only one: the war in Afghanistan. In the name of protecting the United States from international terrorism, President Obama has underscored the necessity of securing Afghanistan and its volatile borders.

However, to do so requires recognition of Afghanistan’s history of falling prey to the machinations of the world’s superpowers, including our very own United States and the former USSR. In the past thirty years, the once bustling metropolitan hub of Kabul has decayed enormously as a result of foreign intervention, its barren ruins reigned by ruthless vigilantes, bewildered foreign troops, and a shaky government.

In other words, in order to prevent future terrorism in Afghanistan, President Obama must ensure the Afghani people are provided with adequate resources to rebuild their nation. One concern expressed by many of the world’s developed countries has been the massive outflow of opium from the war-torn country. Last year, a U.N. survey revealed sharp increases in Afghanistan’s opium production. The survey also unveiled a staggering statistic: 90% of the world’s opium continues to be cultivated within Afghani borders.

Unfortunately,  little attention has been paid to the struggles of Afghani farmers, and how close their livelihoods are tied to the Taliban’s growing drug trade.