I'm not sure what's new about this proposal. Crack down on drug lords? Check. Replace opium crop with other crops? Check. This is exactly the same plan that someone's trotted out every six months during this forty-year drug war. This was Nixon's plan to stop Mexicans growing marijuana back in the sixties. Nice to see you've finally heard it over here, but I don't see anything new.

You are never going to win a drug war over there as long as people want it over here. Better to spend the entire DEA budget on developing drug antagonists and other means of breaking drug habits.

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By the way, take a look at every war we've had since Vietnam. Check where the weapons and soldiers went, and see if you can match the drug that came back. During the Iran-contra era there were bumper stickers that read: "CIA = Cocaine Importation Agency." Hasenfus. Read about the Golden Triangle and Air America and Southern Air Transport during Vietnam. Read about Monzer al-Kassar, who was an arms dealer bringing U.S. stuff to Iran while being the biggest heroin importer into the U.S. At one point Victor Bout was flying weapons into Afghanistan for the U.S. and the Taliban, and was bringing heroin out.

It's a small world after all.

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The U.S. is not in Afghanistan because bin Laden used to be there in 2001. That's stupid, but people believe it. We are not there to end the drug generation there. Read about the Chinese Opium Wars to understand the real dynamics of drug wars.

American soldiers are in Afghanistan because the oil companies want to build a pipeline to get all that oil and gas from the former Soviet Union. The rest of NATO is probably losing interest because their energy companies are not getting a big enough slice.

Here's another historical parallel. At the end of World War I the U.S. sent an expeditionary force into Russia to stop all the revolutionary goings-on there. The head of the American relief services for Europe was Herbert Hoover, who had claim to the oilfields around Baku. Hoover essentially cut off the relief supplies for the Russians because he wanted to keep those oilfields. This is not unlike what Bill Clinton did for Iraq. That is, he and Madeleine Albright did the starving, and George Bush did the acquisition of the oilfields.

A little background for you.....

The chief problem in Afghanistan is corruption. The parliament is comprised of corrupt officials and most of them are drug lords. Currently, US tax dollars are funding this charade. We have to help fund the government but at the same time we have become powerless in stopping the corruption because we do not demand anything back from the government. This has to end.

President Karzai is despised across the country. The Afghans that supported him have been let down terribly. The man is rarely in the country (most often he is abroad making speeches). Karzai has not addressed even the most basic concerns of the Afghan people. There is no way Karzai wins the elections next year unless they are rigged. While the people suffer, his government wastes massive amounts of money on luxury homes, offices, armored SUVs, etc. Parliamentarians send their kids to first rate schools while everyone else gets a bad education or none at all. If their families are sick they get health care. Most Afghans get none. Most people have little to no electricity, cold water or no running water at all and the cost of living has gone through the roof.  It goes on and on. The people are very angry. But they do not hate us for the most part. That is something that people need to understand. Afghanistan is not Iraq but it will be if we do not do something soon...and it better be something that benefits the people.

Afghanistan's only hope is agriculture. That is a fact. There is no manufacturing in that country and there will not be any for a long time. Unfortunately, decades of war have ruined the soil, there is almost no heavy farming equipment in the country, there are no markets to sell what they do grow, etc. You have to fix agriculture first before you can change ANYTHING.  Everyone understands that.

What must happen is a FDR type agriculture plan. If we can bring in equipment to level the ground, irrigation systems to ensure water, seed, fertilizer, vaccines for animals, pesticides, etc agriculture can thrive in that country. The problem is the money has to stop going through the Afghan government. They steal it all.

Afghans do not want to grow poppy. Unfortunately, many are starving and that is the only crop they can grow because the Taliban and drug lords will front them the money to grow the crops. They also are starting to provide health care and other services the government has ignored. That is why the population isn't kicking them out. It isn't because they like them. They do not.

Alternative crops are viable if there is a vision and a way to secure the communities that want to grow them. For example, saffron grows great over there and it is worth more. Everyone would jump on the saffron bandwagon if they didn't have drug lords pointing guns at them. Since those people also happen to be the government it is a big problem. It doesn't help either when we cut down the farmers crops. Those farmers are then in debt to the Taliban. They have to give their daughters away and work like slaves for them to repay debts.  Clinton is right. We are going after the wrong people.

I constantly hear people say we should stay out of the Afgans affairs. Quite the opposite. The Afghan govt is using our money to enrich themselves while offering nothing to the people. This is the problem with democracy in these type of countries. Until you have stable civil institutions there can be no peace, no prosperity or an improvement in human rights.  Bush has done everything backwards and that is why both Iraq and Afghanistan look the way they do today. Corruption is the heart of the problem.

She will target enforcement against drug lords, labs, and corrupt officials, not farmers

In other words, continue butting our nose in things that are none of our business.  If the Afghans want to grow and process poppy, or wheat, or soybeans for a living, that's their business.  

she will propose to the international community and the Congress a multi-year program to develop Afghanistan's agricultural sector to provide alternative livelihoods