Money as a Weapons System - Marjah, Afghanistan

A writer for McClatchy Newspapers reports that things are going well in Marjah, Afghanistan.  Of note is his description of how the economy is picking up - primarily jump-started by money being doled out by the Marines.  "Money as a Weapons System" would seem to be a favorite tactic of the Marines in Marjah and . . . for the time being (according to the report) it would seem to be working.  See "Tailor shops displace opium bazaar in Afghan town", McClatchy Newspapers, February 17, 2011.

For information about using money as a way of winning the war see "Commander's Guide to Money as a Weapons System Handbook", Handbook 09-27, April 2009 (posted on the United States Army Combined Arms Center here).  Some observers are not that convinced that the concept is a good one - see commentary by Andrew Wilder, a research director at Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, in "A weapons system based on wishful thinking", boston.com, September 16, 2009.  (the article is dated but . . . ).