The Ambassador: Fighting Drugs and Corruption in Afghanistan
In March 2007, the President appointed Tom to be Coordinator for Counternarcotics and JusticeReform in Afghanistan, and accorded him a rare honor– the rank of Ambassador. Working with other U.S. government agencies, allies around the world, and Afghan officials, “Ambassador Tom,” as some of the staff liked to call him, led the effort to develop the first ever U.S. Counternarcotics Strategy for Afghanistan. This strategy helped reverse the burgeoning opium poppy trade there.
Since the implementation of this program, poppy cultivation has declined sharply in Afghanistan, and more than 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces were poppy-free for two consecutive years. Ironically, while Democrats in Congress and elsewhere were first sharply critical of Tom’s tough, law-enforcement approach to the problem, the new administration has done little to change the policy Tom helped put in place. Now, unfortunately, poppy production has started to increase again.