HOW'S FREDO'S WAR ON TERROR GOING?

Not too well in Afghanistan. The situation is so bad there that we can't afford to alienate some of the people who are growing poppies for the heroin trade. This does of course make perfect sense given the instability in Afghanistan but it's certainly not a good sign.

Marines ignore Taliban cash crop to not upset Afghan locals
By JASON STRAZIUSO – 14 hours ago

GARMSER, Afghanistan (AP) — The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon sleep beside a grove of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully swat at the heavy opium bulbs while walking through the fields. Afghan laborers scraping the plant's gooey resin smile and wave.

Last week, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit moved into southern Helmand province, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region, and now find themselves surrounded by green fields of the illegal plants that produce the main ingredient of heroin.

The Taliban, whose fighters are exchanging daily fire with the Marines in Garmser, derives up to $100 million a year from the poppy harvest by taxing farmers and charging safe passage fees — money that will buy weapons for use against U.S., NATO and Afghan troops.

Yet the Marines are not destroying the plants. In fact, they are reassuring villagers the poppies won't be touched. American commanders say the Marines would only alienate people and drive them to take up arms if they eliminated the impoverished Afghans' only source of income.