I read an article six weeks ago in the Washington Post about opium harvesting rates going through the roof in Afghanistan since the Taliban fell. Two weeks ago, as an Army journalist, I had my chance to ask Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at a Pentagon Town Hall meeting what we're doing about it.
Every so often Rumsfeld holds those meetings to gauge the mood of the military. Most of the questions are softball tosses.
But my question was different. I expected the answer he gave me; I just never expected it to take on a life its own until another incident happened later that afternoon and killed the topic.
Why ask a question like this? Because we're ignoring a very serious issue that affects us here in the West.
As backward, as the Taliban were, they did one good thing - they successfully banned the harvesting of opium, which as many of you know is the root of heroin. The great laws of capitalism took over after that.
Heroin prices around the world sky rocketed. The United Nations estimates that 4,000 acres of opium were harvested in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001.
That number has climbed to 70,000 acres since the end of the Taliban regime. And the price has dropped as the supply increased. It's now cheaper to buy a hit of heroin than it is to buy a value meal at McDonalds
Why is this happening? Necessity. A farmer in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush Mountains told the Post his nine kids and donkeys need food (he neglected to mention his wife). He needs a quick fix of cash and turns to opium because it grows quickly. Three cycles of opium can be grown in one season with half the water it takes to grow one cycle of wheat or corn.
Now imagine most Afghani farmers thinking the same, and we're in the situation we're in.
So the day of the Town Hall came , and I was very nervous. I hate being the center of attention, and this question was going to put me in the spotlight.
I stood there as a soldier and asked why we're doing something equally as evil and insidious as shooting up heroin, namely ignoring the problem.
Of course, my mind went blank as I said my name. I happened to be looking down at my question on a piece of paper when it happened. Rummy and the 500 people in the audience laughed when he asked if I needed to read my name from a piece of paper.
"No, no, my mind went blank, sir. I'm sorry." Then the room went silent.
"My question concerns itself with the production of opium in Afghanistan. It's been reported that production of opium has risen dramatically since coalition forces entered Afghanistan a couple of years ago. As a result, the price of heroin is falling around the world. I was wondering if you could relate to us what the coalition is doing, and will do in the future, to eradicate this dangerous drug."
The room was absolutely silent for an eternity. Then Rummy spoke, gravely. Most of what he said I don't remember. I was in too much of a daze. But I do remember the face.
He said it was a "whale of a problem" and that it was "a demand issue" based mostly in Europe, especially Britain. In between those phrases he said something I've only heard him say once before: "I really don't know."
The look on his face was serious and stunned. He was probably expecting me to ask a softball question and I beaned him in the head with a hardball instead.
To his credit, Rumsfeld did say we should attack the issue "in all directions." Education, drug rehab and even supply reduction is the key, he said. I tend to agree - to a point.
This wasn't a forum to ask follow-up questions, which forced me to reflected on his response afterward. But the secretary didn't know what the United State, as the lead coalition partner in Afghanistan, would do about a problem connected with one of the reasons why ardent Islamists hate us: our decadence.
Let's not mention the fact we're helping them buy weapons and fund operations to destabilize Afghanistan with the money we spend on heroin, whether we buy it in Kirkland, D.C. or London.
More importantly, Rumsfeld, in my mind, refuted the idea of attacking the supply. If it's a demand issue, then spending billions of dollars a year in Colombia is simply a waste.
Back at my desk, Rumsfeld's office called down and asked if the question was part of a story? No, it was not.
About an hour later, Associated Press photos showed my back as I asked the question. The caption read that Rumsfeld was asked about opium production. An hour later, the AP posted a story about my question. The headline: "Rumsfeld says no easy answers to opium in Afghanistan." Fox News ran a 30-second spot about it that afternoon.
I felt nervous and giddy. Ha ha, I thought, I stumped the old man.
Then the issue was forgotten, just as quickly as it was brought up. The blackout in New York happened. And the issue went back to its previous corner where it can be safely ignored.
Bill Putnam is the former assistant editor of the Kirkland Courier. He is now an Army journalist based in Washington, D.C.
