Bad boys, bad boys, what you going to do when they come for you

By Dave Anderson:

The Afghan Army and the Afghan police are supposed to stand up so the US, NATO and ISAF can stand down.  It's somewhat hard to stand up when you're enjoying some high quality heroin or hash.

Reuters reports:

When British trainers administered random drugs tests to 25 Afghan police recruits at a base in southern Helmand province, most of them failed.
One recruit was kicked out of the force. The others were given warnings.
Heroin shouldn't be tolerated, but there is no point kicking out the ones who smoke hashish: there would be too few left, their Afghan commander said.

Yes, the Afghan police just have to be better than the Pashtun tribal fighters, Taliban insurgents and AQ affiliated fighters; most of whom are also coming from a cultural-economic context of hash consumption, but this is the force that is supposed to hold and build as the Western troops 'clear' areas in the next twelve months. 

Comments

[Lex]

My best guess is that it isn't hashish consumption that is the problem. I know a respected heart surgeon who smokes dope every chance he gets. Our allies in Afghanistan's police and military seem to be the bottom of the barrel. Not smoking hash probably wouldn't help them much.

In these discussions it would also be wise to keep in mind that most South Asians smoke heroin rather than inject as we're used to seeing portrayed in the movies. It's still junkiedom, but not quite the same. Further, there's plenty of historical evidence that people can be regular opiate users and function in physically difficult tasks.

Laying our puritanical social conventions over a foreign culture is dangerous business.