As I noted in my earlier post I think the key is to work on the younger generation - we need to break the cycle and get them hooked on the Internet, mobile phone, Coca Cola, whatever - anything to show them the contrast with the lives their elders are leading and which currently beckons. Show them the way the world can be.
Getting them away from the influences of their village life would bring big benefits, IMO. Control and influence is the key, something which is impossible to achieve by the occasional visit by a group of sh*t-scared Western squaddies or dodgy Tajik AN policeman or soldier.
simply become targets for opportunists and radicals
Of course, but you could minimise any threat through the judicious use of technology - full body scanners on entry, CCTV etc, not to mention a decent array of weaponry at the settlers disposal plus the ability to call up air and reinforcements. We could learn a lot from the Israelis (it would be somewhat ironic that such a contentious program be employed to the benefit of Muslims).
No doubt you'd also get your quota of firebrands who bluff their way in - they could simply be sent back to wherever they came from (after being comprehensively biometrically scanned). If they want to continue living in the dark ages, so be it.
The system worked well - but this wasn't a volunteer programme; it was forced settlement.
Not talking about forced settlement here. Participation would be purely voluntary.
circumstances were completely different and it saw forced movement of farmers from their land - and therefore livelihood - whereas in Malaya, the Chinese had no land and were living a subsitence exisitence.
They needn't be forced to give up their livelihood, although there could be benefits if they could be persuaded to move on from working the land (it could go some way to sorting out the poppy problem).
I'm sure with the a proportion of the money pledged to the country by the international community, under the supervision of NGOs etc, we could devise all manner of schemes and initiatives to keep those idle hands and minds gainfully employed. The construction effort alone would employ numerous fighting-age males for many years.