Rumble in "The Jungle"

So the French are planning to close down the makeshift camp where immigrants gather before launching their attempt to come to the land of milk and honey - or, rather, housing and benefits - England. How very thoughtful of them.

It's also rather considerate of them not to bulldoze the camp during the month of Ramadan as most of the camps occupants are Moslem - predominantly Afghan from what I understand. Although it does strike me as a bit silly to give them all advance warning of the fact that they are to be rounded up and deported - but hey, what do I know. I'm sure it has nothing to do with France wanting to be seen to do something about the problem rather than actually dealing with it.

But I've got an idea.

You see, it may have escaped their attention in France, but NATO is currently engaged in operations in Afghanistan - including reconstruction work (for some reason). So why not just round up all these immigrants, fly them back to Afghanistan and put them up in a makeshift camp there while their asylum claims are processed (and refused). While they are there they can be put to work - paid of course, we don't do slave labour - making the camp more comfortable and permanent with a water and power supply. Over the course of time, these camps will evolve businesses - shops, restaurants and so on - which will offer employment and pay.

Many of those people will learn valuable skills which can then be applied to build new camps for more immigrants and before you know it you have a virtuous spiral. We could call these camps "new villages" and, as well as providing material support, our troops could offer security and safety. Once it becomes established that these "new villages" not only offer the opportunity to earn a decent living, but provide safety from the Taleban word will get around and everyone will want one. Hey, you could even go as far as moving whole villages out of Taleban areas into safe havens - thus depriving the Taleban of the vital resources of food and men.

Once that is done, you can squeeze the Taleban militarily until their starving, weary and demoralised troops decide to call it a day.

Far fetched? It worked great in Malaya.