The war in Afghanistan, long pushed from the headlines by the chaos in Iraq, has recently returned to the news as conditions there deteriorate and fighting with the Taliban increases. A NATO commander two weeks ago asked for more troops to combat the growing insurgency, a request that was rejected, largely because member countries say they don’t have the soldiers to send to Afghanistan.

More soldiers are needed, but more important, the focus of the Afghanistan mission must change, according to an insightful report by The Senlis Council, a respected international policy group that has workers in Afghanistan.

A primary reason for the resurgence of the Taliban, the council argues, is that the people of Afghanistan are starving. This is the result of five years of war, drought and the focus on military solutions. International aid funds for poverty relief in Afghanistan amount to one-tenth of international military expenditures, according to Senlis. This leaves the Taliban able to exploit Afghans’ deep resentment of this hunger crisis and absence of jobs.

The international community, led by the United States, has further angered Afghans through its policy of eradicating the only crop grown in abundance in Afghanistan – opium poppies. Unable to grow other crops on the barren land or earn money from other jobs, many turned to poppy farming.

To eliminate a source of funding for warlords and to diminish the drug supply, poppy fields are routinely destroyed in Afghanistan. To avoid this fate, farmers are willing to pay a “tax” to the Taliban in exchange for their crops being spared from the eradication campaign.

Instead of this failed policy, Senlis suggests a licensed poppy cultivation program as was done in Turkey in the 1970s, established with the United Nations providing assistance for a processing facility. In 1971, Congress passed a law requiring that the United States buy at least 80 percent of narcotic raw materials from Turkey and India.

Today, there is again a worldwide shortage of opium-based drugs, such as morphine and codeine. Senlis suggests that Afghanistan can play a big role in easing the shortage that is especially harming HIV and cancer patients in the developing world.

Allowing poppy cultivation and production for medicine would provide revenue to the Afghan government and economic opportunity for Afghans, lessening the support for the Taliban.

It is a change well worth considering.