Afghan farmers collect raw opium. VOA/AP.
US and Afghan forces have begun their first operation targeting the Taliban's opium production. VOA. The operation is designed to hit the Taliban's pocketbook as they are funded through the opium trade. The bombing campaign has already destroyed opium production in Helmand province. Experts have long asked for the United States to target Afghanistan's opium markets. The Taliban makes $200 million from opium production and the drugs spread throughout the world.
My Comment:
This move is long overdue. The Taliban get the vast majority of their funding from the drug trade and that is a major reason why they have been able to survive as long as they have. They also have other sources of income, but none of them are as large as the opium trade. Taking out that stream of income could cripple them.
Indeed, this is very close to what was done in Syria and Iraq. ISIS got much of its income from the illegal oil trade. They pumped the oil and sent it to Turkey and other regional partners raising millions of dollars. Under Barack Obama, that oil trade helped ISIS expand. Indeed, it's a major reason why ISIS was able to do as well as it did, to the point where they were even threatening Baghdad.
Until Russia joined the war and bombed the hell out of the truck convoys and oil wells, cutting off the ISIS funding cold. Trump continued this policy and pretty soon ISIS ran out of money. It was one of the turning points in the war and was highly effective in stopping ISIS from expanding. It wasn't the only factor, not by a long shot, but going after their income stream certainly helped.
I think the same thing could happen in Afghanistan. Unlike ISIS, the Taliban do not have a diversified economy. Even after ISIS lost their oil money, they still had taxes, selling artifacts, slave trade, farming and hostage taking to make money. Plus they looted money from banks and stole from civilians.
The Taliban doesn't have all of those options. Their economy is far to reliant on drugs, so any sustained campaign to deny them of that income stream will be devastating. Since Afghanistan is fairly poor, they can't even rely on looting. They may not have the money to pay their troops and provide services to areas under their control. This could cause a complete collapse.
Donald Trump is essentially waging economic warfare on the Taliban, which is not surprising considering his background. Trump is a businessman and he doesn't think about warfare conventionally. He understands that money makes the world go around and that destroying the Taliban's economy might accomplish something that hasn't been acomplished for 16 years of warfare.
Of course getting rid of opium has other benefits. Though very little Afghani opium makes it to the United States, it does make it to Europe and it causes major problems there. Heroin is a scourge and people become addicted. Destroying the opium production will help our European allies.
Indeed, one of the ways the Taliban wages war on the west is by exporting drugs across the world. Even though use of recreational drugs is forbidden in Islam, apparently the Taliban justify selling it to infidels. It is a fairly good way to damage the western governments with the high cost of addiction causing massive problems.
So will this work? I am not completely sure. The Taliban are like cockroaches, no matter what we do we can't get seem to get rid of them. But even if it doesn't work, a new strategy was needed. In 16 years of warfare we never really came close to completely eliminating the Taliban.
And I think it has a chance to work. Hitting people in the pocketbook helps immensely, as the war against ISIS has shown. At the very least it might create an opening for the Afghan government to regroup after a brutal campaign against the Taliban and ISIS, which they happen to be losing. At the very least this campaign may give the Afghan government more time, which is what they need the most.
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