Just Imagine if The United States government decided to take a softer gentler approach to Afghanistan. What if the U.S. government strategy shifted from and expensive conventional war, to giving to the people of Afghanistan. What I mean by that is to buy up all the raw materials for drugs from the Afghan population and thereby deny the Taliban and Al-Qaeda a financial base for funding.

What I have always found very odd about this so called war on drugs is that governments of the world take the approach of prohibition. They spend billions of dollars globally to 'fight the drug war' to no avail. They just keep pissing away YOUR tax dollars on a fruitless effort to stem the flow of drugs.

If the U.S. government would lead by example and initiate a program to buy the opium and the marijuana and hashish that the terrorists use to partly fund their operations from all the farmers in Afghanistan for double what the terrorists pay then they are (a) denying the terrorists a financial base on which they depend and (b) the money will help to give the farmers a better standard of living. If you give a person the ability to provide for their family in a better way then has been possible before then part of the battle has been won. All any person on this planet wants is a better life for themselves and their loved ones. If you help them to find the path to that goal then you will change their will to fight.

This war will not be won by any amount of military might. You could send 200,000 troop to Afghanistan and it wouldn't make an iota of difference, because the military is fighting the population as well as the terrorists. Until the president of the United States and the adisors he listens to seriously rethink their game plan then you might as well assume the possition and kiss your ass good-bye because the clock will keep ticking toward the end.