Afghan is Just Another War on Drugs

You think the War on Drugs in the U.S. is stupid? Even more stupid is fighting it overseas with American troops at enormous expense in dollars and lives. From a NYT report on HuffPo:

All told, Western troops have died in greater numbers in Helmand this month than in any other province in Afghanistan over a similar period since the 2001 invasion.

It is unclear whether the level of casualties will remain this high. But the Taliban can ill afford to lose the Helmand River Valley, a strip of land made arable by a network of canals that nourish the nation’s center for poppy growing.