Times review of Opium Season

The New York Times today ran a review by William Grimes of Joel Hafvenstein's Opium Season: A Year on the Afghan Frontier. Hafvenstein, currently evaluating alternative livelihood programs in Badakhshan, has had an unparalleled view of US counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan and has contributed many insightful comments to Afghanistan Watch.

The review is quite favorable, and closes with one of my favorite quotes from the book: “We had come to Helmand thinking of opium as the local currency, and had tried to replace it with cash. But security was the real currency of Afghanistan. The traumatized population of Helmand would trade anything for it, follow anyone who could offer it.” If only international policymakers had understood this sooner.

Hafvenstein's book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand why international efforts to curb the spread of poppies have failed -- and what the implications are for the future.