nigegilb
The article on the link you gave included this line:
<<British and American officials cannot resort to the tactics of the Taliban, which slashed poppy cultivation in 2001 by threatening to shoot farmers.>>
What follows is not directed at you but comment on that article.
.
Well it was not just their threat of violence but a culture of living their religion that not only drove their forces but encouraged compliance because of conscience – this is what they achieved throughout the (large) area that they controlled:
.
For TEN months prior to the invasion by the USA virtually ALL poppy production had come to a stop – the effect was so profound that a world wide heroine drought occurred and here in Oz at least many, many users found the quality so bad and the cost so high of that available that they took treatment programs – so the Taliban had done more to combat heroine problems in western countries than the USA etc.
It is ironic that Bush lied in an address justifying the coming invasion by stating that 80% of H on American streets came from Afghanistan when it had already stopped that 10 months earlier.
.
They also stopped most general crime within Afghanistan: eg rape of women became extremely rare (it’s back up there now, if you’ll pardon the expression) - OK they had to dress modestly when in public - and I recall one BBC reporter grudgingly admit that he could drive alone a car full of gold through Kabul at midnight in perfect safety. In deed, one of the things that got the Taliban so much support from ordinary Afghans was the desire to have peace and law and order – it was chaos before them and now it is worse.
.
But they must have been invaded for something, right? Perhaps such a cohesive group was bargaining too hard for the 13 oil fields, 16 gas fields, and a slice of the pipeline action?
.
Or was it that they would not hand over Bin Liner? – well, just for an exercise, imagine asking the Americans to hand him over quick smart – effin hard ask even with all their resources and global reach, isn’t it?