Illicit drug trade greater threat than Taliban

Afghanistan is going badly. "We're not going to win this war," said a top British general last week.

Well, pass the smelling salts.

The War on Drugs created Afghanistan's massive illicit drug trade. This trade funds the insurgency, corrupts the government and destabilizes society. But neither the United States nor the United Nations will acknowledge that the War on Drugs is anything less than a roaring success and so they refuse to discuss alternatives to the policy that fuels the whole bloody mess.

The War on Drugs has proved to be as futile as prohibition, and more costly in terms of enforcement and loss of liberties. It has also provided our enemies a tool to use against us.