Dismal history.

Editor,

Consistent with the dismal history of opium laid out by Alfred McCoy in his monumental "The Politics of Heroin:" (a) Mr. Obama is asking Mr. Karzai to interdict the production and transport of opium, while (b) Mr. Karazai's political infrastructure in Afghanistan amounts to an opium cartel, and (c) American military boots on the ground, for fear of losing local support in their fight with the Taliban, hesitate to interfere with villagers' ability to earn cash by growing opium.

The thesis of Prof. McCoy's book and the sad truth of the matter is that every president's "War on Drugs," starting with Richard Nixon's, has increased the production of opium in geographic regions other than those targeted and has therefore increased the complexity of the global production and distribution network for heroin.

In every case, military and political establishments -- from the Thieu regime in South Vietnam to the Karzai regime in Afghanistan -- play key roles in the opium and heroin trade, and the exigencies of anti-insurgency warfare lead not only to tolerating but also facilitating opium production for cash by peasants willing to fight America's enemy of the moment.

re: "In Afghanistan, Obama Presses Karzai to Fight Corruption" (3/29/2010)