Tending The Poppies

One of the few issues where the Harper regime has not been making policy decisions with one eye on the polls is the ongoing war in Afghanistan. This war, they insist, is because we are fighting terrorists. Those “terrorists” are increasingly warlords that were on our side a few short years ago. They may or may not be backing the Taliban now, but their main interest lay in the poppy fields and their allies include the farmers who are growing the only cash crop that pays a decent return.

Poppies have become the crop of choice in Afghanistan not because of terrorists or “Islamo-fascism”, or any other cause invented to politically benefit those who have deluded themselves into believing their own simplistic rhetoric. Farmers in Afghanistan grow poppies for the same reason that you see field peas and canary seed where wheat used grow in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, because farmers need to feed their families. Put prairie farmers in the same boat as their colleagues in Afghanistan and a few poppy fields will sprout here too.

The Harper government does not recognize that and has promoted policies that parrot those of George Bush. In the equation used by the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and Canada there is no difference between the “war on terror” and the “war on drugs.” The rhetoric is the same and the goals are just as unachievable. Worse yet, it is difficult, if not impossible, for the farmers who grow poppies to tell Canadian soldiers from the mercenaries hired by the private security companies that the US has contracted to eradicate poppy crops.

Canadian forces are not usually directly involved in crop eradication, nor do they do much aid and development work. Instead, most Canadian forces in Afghanistan work closely with their American counterparts causing the local population to consider our troops as an extension of US operations in the area. That perception, combined with an apparent bias as to which farmer has his crops eradicated puts our soldiers at increased risk and brings into question our stated mission of rebuilding Afghanistan.

Eradication attempts have been a dismal failure. While they have cost some farmers their livelihood, eradication efforts have not reduced the poppy crop. In fact, that crop produced record amounts of heroin again this year. The Afghan farmers who produce the poppy crop receive only a tiny fraction of the billions generated by the illegal heroin trade. Local drug lords make much more than the farmers do, but most of the money from the drug trade stays in the hands of western organized crime.

The trail of harm left by the policies of western countries, policies that promote the illicit drug trade even while they claim to be trying to stop it, starts at the beginning of the journey. The UN estimates that addiction rates have doubled in Afghanistan since 2004, with approximately 200,000 hardcore addicts and a million users.

By the time the drugs reach the west, they have changed hands many times. Drug mules, low level smugglers often desperate for cash to feed their own addictions, risk the death sentence in many countries and overdoses if the heroin-filled condoms they have ingested break open. Drug gangs throughout Asia and Eastern Europe bribe government officials and engage in inter-gang warfare, often catching innocent bystanders in the crossfire.

The suffering caused on the way to market is induced by the western drug problem. That drug problem has worsened under nearly a century of prohibitions, with the “law and order” approach that Harper has consistently endorsed throughout his time in public life failing to slow addiction rates. Harm reduction programs such as the Insite safe injection clinic have been shown through scientific studies to be beneficial in dealing with addictions, but the continued existence of such programs is in question.

There is also a continuing shortage of opium-based medicines, such as codeine and morphine in the developing world. While Afghanistan’s poppy crop is not large enough to completely address that shortage, it could produce enough medicine to greatly reduce the suffering.

Such an initiative would not only benefit Afghan farmers by giving them a legal way to grow a crop well-suited to local growing conditions, but would bring technologically advanced development and investment dollars. Such development would go a long way towards establishing the kind of stable economy necessary to the type of nation-building that Stephen Harper has thus far paid only lip service to. It would also have the effect of reducing the flow of illegal drugs into not just Canada, but all of Europe and North America.

Our policies in Afghanistan are failing. We are fighting an unwinnable war with no solid objectives in place. Afghanistan is suffering and, because of poor Canadian policies both in Afghanistan and in Canada, Canadians are suffering. Our policies are not harming only Canadian and Afghan citizens, the lack of foresight within those policies is harming people throughout the developing world.

Stephen Harper and Gordon O’Connor mutter platitudes about nation building in Afghanistan while doing little more than destroying infrastructure, people, and the economy. Instead they could be working to promote the benefits of encouraging legal poppy farming in Afghanistan while building that economy and undermining a major source of the warlords that we are told are now backing the Taliban. In the process they could help to address a humanitarian crisis occurring throughout the developing world, increase Canada’s stature on the world stage, and help to address our burgeoning domestic drug problem.

If Harper is going to insist on Canadian forces remaining in Afghanistan, then he should be promoting a solid plan to deal with the issues that our occupation of that country are raising. He likes to say that remaining in Afghanistan is in Canada’s interests, but refuses to define what those interests are. Reducing the illegal drug supply in Canada is in our interest. Building a sustainable economy in Afghanistan is in our interest. Differentiating our forces from those of the United States in Afghanistan is in our interest. Helping a failed state return to stability is in our interest. Harper’s plan, or lack thereof, is accomplishing none of those things.

It is very likely too late for the Canadian military to provide assistance in accomplishing these goals. Our reputation in Afghanistan, and in much of the world, has been tarnished by our past association with Operation Enduring Freedom and our continued war-making in Afghanistan which, despite all of the claims about NATO and the United Nations, is still very much part of a US-controlled offensive.

Stephen Harper should pull our soldiers out of Afghanistan at the earliest opportunity. He should work within the international community to promote a legal poppy crop in Afghanistan. If and when such a policy is accepted by European and American leaders, our military should return in a peacekeeping capacity that includes clear objectives and measurable benchmarks.

A policy like that requires careful development and does not easily fit into the over-simplified rhetoric of Stephen Harper. He prefers to “stay the course” and not “cut and run.” Perhaps his sagging poll numbers will entice Mr. Harper to develop a real policy. If not, we’re just tending the poppies.