US Soldiers Guarding Opium Poppies in Afghanistan

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Ever wonder why the US is in Afghanistan — the planet’s foremost narco-state?

In Afghan fields the poppies grow–opium poppies

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Prior to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Afghanistan was hardly even a world player in growing poppy, which is used to produce both illegal heroin and pharmaceutical-grade morphine. In fact, the Taliban had been actively destroying poppy fields as part of an effort to rid the country of this harmful plant, as was reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on February 16, 2001, in a piece entitled, Nation’s opium production virtually wiped out (http://news.google.com/newspapers?n…).

But after 9/11, the US military-industrial complex quickly invaded Afghanistan and began facilitating the reinstatement of the country’s poppy industry. According to the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP), opium cultivation increased by 657 percent in 2002 after the US military invaded the country under the direction of then-President George W. Bush (Source).

CIA responsible for reinstating opium industry in Afghanistan after 9/11

More recently, The New York Times (NYT) reported that the brother of current Afghan President Hamid Karzai had actually been on the payroll of the CIA for at least eight years prior to this information going public in 2009. Ahmed Wali Karzai was a crucial player in reinstating the country’s opium drug trade, known as Golden Crescent, and the CIA had been financing the endeavor behind the scenes (Source).

“The Golden Crescent drug trade, launched by the CIA in the early 1980s, continues to be protected by US intelligence, in liaison with NATO occupation forces and the British military,” wrote Prof. Michel Chossudovsky in a 2007 report, before it was revealed that Ahmed Wali Karzai was on the CIA payroll. “The proceeds of this lucrative multibillion dollar contraband are deposited in Western banks. Almost the totality of revenues accrue to corporate interests and criminal syndicates outside Afghanistan” (http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/A…).

(Source)

I suppose Obama’s “Fast and Furious” policy of supplying guns to Mexican drug gangs wasn’t enough . . .

US involvement in global opium production dwarfs “Fast and Furious”.

As always, profits before people.

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Related articles

• If Poppy-Eradication Is So Easy for the Taliban, They Why Is It That the Lone Superpower Cannot Even Try? (therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com)
• Afghan Opium Production on Increase (theepochtimes.com)
• Ten years and six billion dollars later, Afghanistan’s Opium Blooms Ever Stronger (lissnup.wordpress.com)
• Opium : The U.S. Helps Them Grow It, Protects their Profit Margin And Arrests You For Using It. Hypocrisy At Its Finest (familysurvivalprotocol.wordpress.com)
• Afghan Drugs: Ignorance, Policy Or Agenda? – OpEd (eurasiareview.com)
• Taliban destroy poppy fields in surprise clampdown on Afghan opium growers (guardian.co.uk)

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