FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Four inches of snow fell last night on the 50 volunteers of the Texas National Guard's Agri-business Development Team.

The snow hides the potholes, ice slicks and mud where gravel was

pounded into the dirt by thousands of American soldiers who've done a

tour at this base.

Like the snow-covered footpaths, this war is not what it seems. American soldiers are fighting Taliban insurgents nurtured in radical religious schools. Yet Islam versus the West doesn't begin to describe what the Texas Guardsmen see.

They see farmers drowning in debt. Drought, destroyed irrigation systems, bad seed, bad fertilizer and bad feed create Taliban recruits looking for a way to pay the bills. The Taliban are sitting on a wheat-seed farm south of here called Khajanoor Farms, demanding loyalty as well as money. Those who refuse have to get their seed

elsewhere.