"If, as is claimed by conservatives in general, the Afghan elections were a success and there is now a broadly represented federal government headed by Karzai which runs the country, I wonder how this could be coming to pass.

Doesn't seem to make sense, does it?"

Illegal drugs are grow/manufacture, processed, in the US. Does this make any sense? Or what about all the alcohol production and consumption during the Prohibition? The US didn't end the Prohibition because it changed it's view about the damage alcohol does. It change the law because they realize that they couldn't stop it.
[btw, this is one piece of strong evidence that Americans were wiser back in the 1930's than they are today]. The Prohibition of the 1920's only lasted 13 years [1920-33]. Our current Prohibition has lasted for about 40 years and it has been a huge disaster. Not only has it eroded our civil rights, filled our jails, built huge crime networks in America, but we have used our global power to impose this law globally. It has ruined countries, it has build up international crime networks & costs billions upon billions in enforcement cost per year, and *FINALLY* it has failed utterly. Drugs are freely available to kids, and in the last place you should expect to see them: they are available in prisons. If illegal drugs can be gotten in prisons, that if nothing else should tell you something. It should tell you that even if we locked up all American citizens, illegal drugs would still be available (and btw, at a fairly reasonable price per dose).