I'm not sure if Afghanistan /needs/ a government - but regardless, the war on drugs allows criminal elements to profit from the power vacuum.
You rightly state it's a functioning export industry - but the de-facto criminalisation of that industry is the issue. We either need to find ways of either buying the stock for legal uses, or helping people transition to other cash crops. But the industry is supported with 1st world drug users money - and until we address the way our citizens are part of the problem, the problem will remain, or simply move to the next lawless frontier.
You rightly state it's a functioning export industry - but the de-facto criminalisation of that industry is the issue. We either need to find ways of either buying the stock for legal uses, or helping people transition to other cash crops. But the industry is supported with 1st world drug users money - and until we address the way our citizens are part of the problem, the problem will remain, or simply move to the next lawless frontier.