the ordinary Afghan farmer has no choice. Warlords control the Afghan farmers -- they are forced to plant poppy and are expected to mee a quota.

Thus it seems to me that you have to cut deals with the warlords whilst you work at transforming the conditions which give rise to warlordism.

Sadly this pragmatic strategy gets hit from the right (too much nation building, not enough anti-terror sweeps) and from the left (too many mini-tyrants, not enough women's groups), which means it's probably not politically sustainable for the length of time needed to effect the desired societal transformation.

Regards
Luke

-- #include witty_sig.h