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US, Afghan forces strike at opium factories to curb Taliban funds
 [DAWN] US and Afghan forces have launched joint attacks on Taliban...the Pashtun equivalent of men... opium factories to try to curb the bully boy group’s economic lifeline, officials from both countries said on Monday. The Mexican border irony must be absolutely blinding. US Army General John Nicholson showed videos at a presser of targeted aerial strikes against what he described as Taliban drug factories. "Last night we conducted strikes in northern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... to hit the Taliban where it hurts, in their narcotics financing," said Nicholson, flanked by Afghan Army Lieutenant General Mohammad Sharif Yaftali. The southern province of Helmand suffers heavy fighting and is the single-largest producer of opium. Opium production in Afghanistan reached record highs this year, up 87 per cent on last year, the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... said last week. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said output of opium made from poppy seeds in Afghanistan, the world’s main source of heroin, stands at around 9,000 metric tons this year. UNODC has warned in the past that Kabul’s weakening grip on security was contributing to a collapse in eradication efforts. Nearly half of Afghan opium is processed, or refined into morphine or heroin, before it is trafficked out of the country, according to US and Afghan officials. Posted by: Fred 2017-11-22 |
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