Indira A.R. Lakshmanan has a story in the New York Times today reporting on the dual need to establish strong security and a thriving agricultural sector in Afghanistan in order for the country to have a strong foundation upon which it can build.According to Lakshmanan’s story, “Rebuilding Afghanistan’s shattered agrarian economy is fundamental to President Barack Obama’s strategy of stabilizing the country and turning around an increasingly deadly war . . .” Lakshmanan writes that in areas where the security is strong and the agriculture sector has started to revive, the poppy cultivation (the plant used for illicit drug production) has dropped. This is good news as the revenue from poppy production helps fund the Taliban’s efforts.
Otto J. Gonzalez, a farming advisor to Richard C. Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is quoted in the New York Times’ story as stating, ‘“We can’t succeed in Afghanistan if the Afghan people aren’t successful in agriculture.”’ Despite the fact that eight out of every ten Afghans work in farming, agriculture only amounts to a 1/3 of the country’s total economic output. Meanwhile, the “illicit poppy economy is worth as much as $3 billion annually to traffickers, warlords, and the Taliban, according to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.
To help the country revitalize its farm economy, in 2007 Missouri was the first of twelve farm states to send a “National Guard Agribusiness Development Team” to Afghanistan. The priorities for the soldiers are preserving harvested crops and helping make improvements in infrastructure like irrigation. However, without security there are concerns that farmers will be forced to raise poppies by the Taliban, so security improvements will need to go hand in hand with agricultural improvements.
To that end “Mr. Obama’s strategy is to coordinate military and noncombat efforts: Troops clear an area of insurgents, and civilians help restore the local economy and government services.” It is though that President Obama may double the number of diplomats and aid workers in the country. For their part, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expected to have 64 staff persons in Afghanistan by 2010. In 2003 there were three USDA workers in Afghanistan.
Noncombat assistance funds for Afghanistan are being used to “start poultry farms and fisheries, along with cash . . . to build roads from farms to markets and improve watersheds.” Agricultural benchmarks will be a major measuring stick for Congress as it considers future funding for the U.S.’s operations in Afghanistan. To some on the ground in the country, the future of agriculture is essential to the future of the nation. ‘“If you help people turn their land into a vineyard, they won’t let the Taliban come back easily,’ says Said Jawad, Afghan ambassador to Washington. ‘Having the population on your side, that’s how you defeat the enemy.”’
To read the Lakshmanan story on the New York Times’ website click here.
Posted: 08/25/09
