Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 11/2009

The Obama Administration's New Counternarcotics Strategy in Afghanistan: Its Promises and Potential Pitfalls

Vanda Felbab-Brown

September 2009

The Brookings Institution

Abstract

Nearly eight years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime, Afghanistan remains far from stable. As President Barack Obama considers alternatives to increasing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, his administration's new counternarcotics strategy meshes well with counterinsurgency and state-building efforts in the country. It is a welcome break from previous ineffective and counterproductive policies.