In April of last year, the ruling Taliban government announced the prohibition of poppy farming . . .It has not been all bluster. New research from geospatial data company Alcis suggests that poppy production has already plummeted by around 80% since last year. Indeed, satellite imagery shows that in Helmand Province, the area that produces more than half of the crop, poppy production has dropped by a staggering 99% . . .
While Washington and the CIA have denied supporting the huge Afghan opium trade, the CIA history since the Vietnam War with drug warlords suggests otherwise. As Alfred W. McCoy documented during the Vietnam War era in his ground-breaking book, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, the CIA was deeply involved with Hmong tribesmen in Laos who were involved in opium trade. They claimed it was necessary to twin their support. Later it was found the CIA Air America was involved in secretly shipping opium from the Golden Triangle.
During the 1980âs US-financed Mujahideen war against the Soviet Red Army in Afghanistan, the CIA allegedly turned a blind eye as Osama bin Laden and thousands of âAfghan Arabsâ he recruited. Afghan warlords such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar were enriching themselves along with the Pakistani ISI intelligence with vast drug trade profits. . .
By 2017 the opium production reached a record 9,000 tons. After more than 16 years of US military occupation. Somewhere here is a very dirty and criminal story and the CIA as well as related private military contractors such as DynCorp appear to be in the middle of it. https://journal-neo.org/2021/04/23/the-politics-of-heroin-and-the-afghan-us-pullout/
Did the US occupy Afghanistan to protect a lucrative drug trade related to heroin?
Did the US leave because fentanyl is making heroin uncompetitive?
The US media have been profoundly disinterested in why the US was occupying Afghanistan for 20 years. Consider this lame excuse from CNN right before the pullout:
What exactly is the US trying to accomplish in Afghanistan?
The stated goal of the US involvement is not to liberate women repressed by the Taliban or to end that regime. In fact, the US has been involved in peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government for years.
The simplest explanation of the US goal in Afghanistan is to keep it from again becoming a hotbed for terror groups like al Qaeda. When the US left Iraq, for instance, the power vaccum helped lead to the rise of ISIS there. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/politics/afghanistan-101/index.html
A festering war in Afghanistan also helped sales by military contractors and weapons manufacturers. I doubt that opium production was the only reason for the war, but it may explain why Afghanistan was selected as the location for the war.
Hmm. The Talis curtail the making of opium & heroin so fentanyl is now widespread much coming across the southern border along with the JâBiden illegal invasion horde?
Hmm
I recall you making these comments and I have also read similar accounts from others who served over there.
To me it is obvious that the opium trade was left intact to assist with ensuring the stability of the government that was installed after the collapse of the first Taliban regime. It would also not surprise me if more than a few politicians benefitted financially from this arrangement.
This and the subsequent complete failure of our nation building attempts in that country illustrates perfectly the problems inherent with trying to create by force a âdemocraticâ government that aligns with our own form of government.
As with all wars and military endeavors it is the men and women who are on the ground in the front line (both metaphorically and in reality) that are the most abused by our politicians and leaders. They use that desire to serve and protect our nation and abuse if for their own ends.
And whats worse when those who served return, those same politicians do not give a â â â â about them. Sure they speak in platitudes and fly the flag on all right the days. These politicians are the first in line to show how much they love veterans but where are they when these same veterans struggle mentally and financially. Where are they when these veterans are homeless or see no other option but to take their own life.
Okay I am going to stop now as I am totally off topic and beginning to rant. Thought about deleting this but what the â â â â â its a message board so hitting âreplyâ.
As far as Iâm concerned thereâs really just two driving forces behind those who hold the highest positions of power throughout the government; power and money!
This 2017 story from a Brazilian journalist may explain a lack of serious investigations into what happened to the opium after it left Afghanistan:
A Gulf-based intel source with vast experience across the Pentagon-designated âarc of instabilityâ tells the story of his interaction with an Australian intel operative who served in Afghanistan;
âThis was about 2011. He said he gave US Army Intelligence and the CIA reports on the Afghan heroin trade â that US military convoys from the ports of Pakistan were being used to ship the heroin out of Afghanistan â much of it was raw opium â for distribution as their backhaul.
No one answered.
He then cornered the key army intelligence operations and CIA at a meeting and asked why no action was taken. The answer was that the goal of the US was winning the hearts and minds of the population and giving them the poppies to grow won their hearts. He was then warned that if he brought this issue up again he would be returned to Australia in a body bag.
As more and more gets exposed, I find myself having to control more and more disdain for our federal governmentâŠand more and more reasons why Trump gets my vote in 2024.
Trumpâs first term showed that he canât change things by himself.
The career criminals running the intel agencies, Pentagon, DOJ, State Department, etc. need to be removed before any real change will occur. That requires Congress and a major change in direction from the leadership in both political parties.
Itâs my opinion that he was naive going into the first term and is now experienced as to how corrupt things actually are. Due to this experience, I believe he will make better choices of who to surround himself with during the next term.
My view is that Trump recognized his limitations. Had he pushed aggressively to remove the career criminals that infest Washington, the likely result would have been a bullet to the brain.
Trumpâs great service has been to force the deep state and their allies to decloak and lose credibility as they flailed against him.
Now, compare what actual veterans of that war said to the arm chair bull â â â â that so-called intellectuals swore was the reality in Afghanistan. They read books on the ethnicity of the major groups involved, they read links about current events, they watched documentaries, etc⊠They knew what was really going on, dammit! lol
And none of them ever talked about how it was all about the black book commodities the whole time. Smartest people in the room always know better than the people who actually lived these things out.
It was no secret that there were huge fields of opium poppies in Afghanistan during the American occupation, but there has been virtually no interest in finding out how the opium left Afghanistan and who profited from the heroin trade.
