Published by Big League Politics
Written by Lisa Ferdinando
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2017 — U.S. and Afghan forces conducted a series of strikes over the past 24 hours against Taliban drug labs, to target the revenue streams of the terrorists, according to the Resolute Support mission and U.S. Forces Afghanistan commander.
Nicholson, who spoke via teleconference from Kabul, Afghanistan, said northern Helmand is the so-called emirate of the Taliban where the terrorists have enjoyed relative freedom of action and where much of their drug enterprise is located.
“Specifically, in striking northern Helmand and the drug enterprises there, we’re hitting the Taliban where it hurts, which is their finances,” he said.
The Afghan air force led the strikes yesterday with A-29 Super Tucano attacks against drug labs and then, last night, they were supported by U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses and other strike aircraft, to include the F-22 Raptor, the general said.
Taliban evolved into narco-insurgency
The terrorists are increasingly turning to narcotics trafficking as well as illegal mining, kidnapping and murder for hire to fund their insurgency, Nicholson said.
“To some extent it’s fair to say that this movement has evolved into a narco-insurgency so their profits from narcotics now exceed their operating expenses,” he said.
“We find that the leadership of the Taliban fight over the money and it’s often divided along tribal lines.” He said law enforcement officials have told him that about 4 percent of the heroin in the United States is from Afghanistan — and they say that number might grow.
Nicholson said the strikes did not target the poppy farmers, but rather the production facilities. He explained that the farmers are forced by terrorists to grow the crop that is processed into opium, morphine and then heroin.
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January 3, 2018
Link: https://bigleaguepolitics.com/u-s-afghan-forces-target-taliban-drug-labs-hit-hurts/
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