The only axis of comparison (and one that I myself have made) is that we have the rampant cultivation of the raw material for illicit drugs that can be used to fund violent actors.

My hope (which I always knew was in vain) was that it would be obvious from the Colombian case that our policies are no curtailing violence, but exacerbating it.

We are about to employ the same policies in Afghanistan and instead of funding just a local insurgency, but rather will help fund international terrorist activities as well.

The ONDCP can have all the commercials they want about how the local junkie is promoting terrorism, but the truth of the matter is, US policy is as much to blame as anything else.

Columbia at least seems to have a relatively strong state whereas the Afghan government’s authority ends at the Kabul city boundary. Columbia’s insurrection is essentially a domestic affair, whereas Afghanistan has numerous exogenous forces involved (Arab money, Pakistan, etc…)

I don’t know much about Wood, but his bio suggests he is a career Foreign service officer with primarily a Latin American background.

The State carrerist aspect is reassuring, but wouldn’t it be better to have someone strongly versed in the intricacies of North-Central Asian politics, culture, and history as Ambassador to Afghanistan?