It’s still monumentally selfish for US agencies to make life and death Afghan struggles all about themselves. It’s like when Senator Jesse Helms complained when Indonesia cracked down on underage smoking because it harmed the US tobacco industry.

Afghan opium farmers switched to wheat crops, which the country needs due to famine, and the article points out the Taliban graciously waited until after harvest before cracking down and enforcing the ban for the next season. I wouldn’t have.