The last tenet of the plan involved the destruction of all poppy fields in the region. Unlike the recent unsuccessful eradication attempts in Pakistan by government troops that have led to more harm than good, we implemented a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the opium farmers. All opium farmers received grants from the government for their lost opium crop and an agricultural loan to make the transition to a different crop. Under a program called Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), they received food ration cards for six months until they could harvest their new corn crop. Each month they received 30 kilos of food – 15 kilos of rice and 15 kilos of wheat. This type of humane treatment allowed our Border Rifles Regiment to clear the poppy fields without fear of attack.

Subscribe Today

• Subscribe to Armchair General Magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!
 

Pakistan’s next steps
Pakistan should attempt to operationalize portions of our tribal rehabilitation strategy in its FATA. It must begin by organizing a peace summit that assembles tribal members, provincial leaders, and the federal government. As a new government has assumed the reins in Pakistan, this would be an opportune time for such a summit. Furthermore, after the recent attacks in Mumbai by the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, now is the time for Pakistan to move forward on a counterterrorism plan nestled in the rehabilitation of its tribal region. Behind-the-scenes meetings must occur between the federal government, tribal leaders, provincial leaders of the Northwest Frontier Province, and its neighboring countries of Afghanistan, India, and China. The FATA should be demilitarized once the federal government provides an earnest assurance that rehabilitation and infrastructure development will occur. Lastly, a plan to burn the poppy fields must be complemented by payments and food to local farmers and training for an alternative crop.

In the short run, and acknowledging that the scale of opium production is much larger in the FATA than it was in the CHT, it is conceivable that a small portion of the poppy fields could be legitimized by selling the opium for medical purposes. This route should only be a temporary fix designed to provide a soft-landing as the FATA moves away from illicit drug sales. By legitimizing agriculture in Pakistan, al Qaeda and the Taliban will be cut out of the process by nullifying the need for the tribal leaders to ally with them for protection. A rehabilitated region with a sound local-federal working relationship would also prevent the terrorists from exploiting this divide.

Critics could argue that this rehabilitation process would take years to accomplish. However, as demonstrated by Chittagong’s six month peace process, change takes only as long as desired. It would be careless naïveté to think that this process would be free of growing pains, but without change, the current trajectory of the FATA points to increased tension with the Federal Government and increased entrenchment of the strengthening al Qaida-Taliban terror network in Pakistan. With the command post of the global jihadist movement enjoying a safe-haven within its sovereign borders, it is incumbent upon Pakistan to fix the FATA. As civilians flee the region in droves and NATO forces begin to exit neighboring Afghanistan, the status quo cannot remain. For the sake of the country and the rest of the world, Pakistan must look seriously at what we in Bangladesh accomplished in the CHT. If Pakistan does not act, al Qaida and the Taliban will continue to prosper in this netherworld that currently lies politically and militarily out of reach.

Sheikh Hasina, newly elected Prime Minister of Bangladesh, also served from 1996 to 2001. She has been the President of the Awami League, a major political party in Bangladesh, since 1981. She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the secular leader and founding father of Bangladesh.

Carl Ciovacco graduated from West Point and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government with a Masters in Public Policy. He has specialized in International Security Policy and his graduate thesis was on al Qaida’s media strategy. Mr. Ciovacco served as an Army officer in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. His article, “Al Qaida’s Media Strategy” was published in the January 2009 issue of Armchair General magazine.

Help Armchair General by bookmarking to