This is really...rather...funny.

Certainly. Downright hilarious, actually...

But in all seriousness... In my opinion, this is a drastic improvement over the poppy fields I keep hearing about.. If the locals decide that planting marijuana is a tactical advantage over planting poppy, that's a win. If the marijuana fields provide a safe cover for the insurgents, that trend is likely to expand with every growing season. It's not like we will be unable to develop methods for finding armed insurgents hiding in marijuana fields... That's a pretty narrow technical problem that can be solved. Metal guns and whatnot make that easier..

If there is a non-food plant export that Afghanistan can produce in the short term to get their economy going, this is a damn good one. Aside from the obvious and globally loved medicinal qualities.. Hemp/marijuana is useful for producing all kinds of necessary materials (cloth, rope, paper, etc), and we don't produce it here... This may be the perfect export for the country...

I seriously hope the Canadians that discovered this came from British Columbia. It would be so fitting...

RE: Canada troops battle 10-foot Afghan marijuana plants - CNN.com