Ah, cotton subsidies:

The Bush administration yesterday formally appealed a World Trade Organization ruling that subsidies paid to U.S. cotton farmers violate global trade rules.

Now, I'm generally in favor of conservation-oriented subsidies. We have to preserve our prime agricultural soils. But programs like Step 2 are bad news, primarily because they make it harder for developing countries to compete.

And helping cotton growers in the developing world ought to be a vital component of a comprehensive war on terrorism. Nearly half of the Pakistani labor force works in agricultural industries, and cotton is the country's top agricultural commodity. While Pakistan has basically eradicated opium poppy production by launching a vigorous crop substitution program in the Northwest Frontier Provinces, Afghanistan's opium production has exploded, particularly in Helmand province, a stronghold of the Taliban. Al Qaeda is said to be hip-deep in the heroin business. Drug money goes to buy AK-47s and explosives that kill Americans.

I'm by no means certain that cotton is an economically viable alternative to poppies. It requires more intensive irrigation and better soil conditions, and the price it fetches may not be high enough at present to meet a family's needs. But despite these problems, Afghanistan still exports cotton somehow. It's clear that cotton works in some areas of the country. Wouldn't we like to give those Afghanistan's farmers who are at the margin every possible incentive to switch?

Why is the Bush administration undermining the War on Terror?