Afghanistan coalition forces' latest weapon: Cash?

You know me, I'm in favor of withdrawal from Afghanistan, but if we're going to do this, just throwing money at the problem (yeah, typical liberal idea) might be the safest -- and cheapest -- tactic available. Just think, if we had been bribing them since 2001 to do what we wanted, how many hundreds of billions of dollars could we have saved by now? Afghanistan has a population of 29 million (ca. 2009). We have spent over $500 billion on war operations and foreign aid for Afghanistan. That would be well over $17,000 for every man, woman, and child in Afghanistan, in a country where GDP per capita is about $800 per year (ca. 2008).

Instead, we could have given them each $5,000 in 2002 and called it a day! No more Taliban! We could have even offered them a bonus: "If there's no more Taliban here two years from now, you each get $5000 more!" We could have offered them each $5,000 bonuses every three years -- "Still no more Taliban?" -- and still saved money.

What's more, by subsidizing their lavish $800-a-year lifestyle, we could cut down on poppy production and the illegal opium trade, (93% of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan), which farmers there rely on to survive.

Like I said, sometimes burning cash is the cheapest tactic. Plus there's a nice little bonus for us: no U.S. soldiers coming home wounded or in body bags!


Army tells its soldiers to 'bribe' the Taleban
By Michael Evans
November 16, 2009 Times Online

URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6919516.ece