Afghan Opium Harvesting Protected by British & American Occupation Forces // 2014 the largest Opium crop in History.

[Cidersomerset]

One of the consequences or agenda ? of the Afghan war was the resurrection of the
opium trade that was stamped out briefly by the Taliban regime.When the US/UK
led NATO forces invaded they were aided in the fight against the Taliban by the
northern Warlords who were part of the international Opium trade run by CIA
affiliates and others. The Taliban were prepared to hand over Bin Laden if the
US could give them proof he organised the 9/11 attacks. Of course they could
not and they had to invade in the wake of the hysteria of the 'False flag' attack.
Looking back at it now the only thing the invasion has achieved apart from
thousands of deaths is a record Opium crop. There,s something very suspicious
about this ' mainstream' press !!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Spoils of War: Afghanistan’s Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade

Washington's Hidden Agenda: Restore the Drug Trade
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky....Global Research, May 25, 2015

http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Opium-Afghanistan-chart.jpg

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-spoils-of-war-afghanistan-s-multibillion-dollar-heroin-trade/91

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The Worst Narco-State in History? After 13-Year War, Afghanistan’s Opium Trade Floods the Globe
jk5hCLgnY7Y

Published on 29 Dec 2014


http://democracynow.org - In the 13 years since the United States invaded Afghanistan
in 2001, the country's opium production has doubled, now accounting for about 90
percent of the world's supply. To learn more, we are joined by Matthieu Aikins, a Kabul-
based journalist whose latest report for Rolling Stone magazine explores Afghanistan's
heroin boom. "What has happened in Afghanistan over the last 13 years has been the
flourishing of a narco-state that is really without any parallel in history," Aikins
says. "This is something that is extraordinary, that is catastrophic, that has grave
danger for the future and yet there has been virtually no discussion of in recent years."

Watch 13 years of Democracy Now! coverage of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan in our online archive:
http://www.democracynow.org/topics/af...


=======================================================

Afghan Opium Harvesting Protected by British Occupation Forces

By David Icke on 24th August 2015 War and Terror

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Untitled23.jpg

===================================================

GLOBAL RESEARCH...........................

Afghan Opium Harvesting Protected by British Occupation Forces

Opium Harvesting, c.200 metres from Camp Bastion Airfield Perimeter

By Anthony Heaford
Global Research, August 23, 2015

The photograph shows five men harvesting opium a couple of hundred metres
from Camp Bastion perimeter defences, seen in the foreground.

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Afghanistan-opium-field-1024x562.jpg

Not only was this illegal drug production being carried out in the shadow
of ISAF’s Main Operating Base, it was being done under the protection of
British soldiers. Her Majesty’s Armed Forces (Army and RAF) were protecting
this man’s cash crop from illicit ‘taxation’ by the Afghan National Police or Army.

The duplicity is in what the Ministry of Defence tell people we are doing, and
what we are actually doing. As this photo was taken there was a World Service
edition of ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ playing. The particular BBC correspondent,
Quentin Sommerville, was ‘embedded’ with British soldiers in Helmand, who were
assisting in the destruction of poppy fields. This must raise the question as to why
poppy fields on the edge of Bastion’s airfield were protected whilst another farmer’s
crop in a neighboring valley was destroyed?

The duplicity is in what the Ministry of Defence tell people we are doing, and what
we are actually doing. As this photo was taken there was a World Service edition
of ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ playing. The particular BBC correspondent,
Quentin Sommerville, was ‘embedded’ with British soldiers in Helmand, who were
assisting in the destruction of poppy fields. This must raise the question as to why
poppy fields on the edge of Bastion’s airfield were protected whilst another
farmer’s crop in a neighboring valley was destroyed?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Afghanistan-opium-field2.jpg

The land in the once barren valley was now watered by the effluent of the 30,000
people living in Camp Bastion, creating a mini property boom for the owner of the
land, a Mohammad Daoud. The valley bordering Camp Bastion’s airfield had become
a busy agricultural area, with parcels of land rented out to tenant farmers, migrant
farm laborers camping a hundred metres from the defences, plus all the
traffic. Whether this is the same Mohammad Daoud as former Governor of Helmand
Province Mohammad Daoud is yet to be confirmed. If confirmed, the irony of former
Governor Daoud having previously championed British poppy eradication efforts would
illustrate our corruption accurately.

To quote former Governor Daoud:


Unless the international community includes poppy eradication and fighting drugs in
their list of ways to fight terrorism, they will not succeed in this fight because it
(the drug trade) is the fuel in the machine of terrorism.

Our incompetence is best ‘illustrated’ by the deaths of two US Marines, Sergeant
Bradley Atwell and Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible, and the destruction of £200+
million worth of equipment, in the Taliban’s audacious airfield raid of 2012. The
attackers of 14th September launched the raid from this same valley, where despite it’s
proximity to £££Billions of aircraft across the airfield, the Command appeared to assess
the risk there as minimal to non existent. This ‘lax’ attitude (criminal negligence in my
eyes) reportedly extended to not providing any night vision equipment to soldiers
guarding the airfield on a moonless Afghan night. To describe this as simple
‘incompetence’ is being very generous indeed to those responsible.

Two men are dead because the British Army and Royal Air Force failed to protect a
stationary target – an airfield. I can only apologize for my part in that.

Author: Anthony C Heaford, Craftsman / Vehicle Mechanic in British Territorial Army
2009 to 2013, No.30088729. Six month tour of Afghanistan, April to October 2012.
Based in Camp Bastion.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/afghan-opium-harvesting-protected-by-british-occupation-forces/5470988

=======================================================
=======================================================

http://truthaholics.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/us-afghan-drugs.jpg

Afghan Opium Trade CIA Payrolled and Protected by Troops

ZErSD4rlRDs
Uploaded on 29 Oct 2009
Latest news articles and reviews of CIA activity in the Afghan Opium Trade and how
the troops are little more than caretakers of Opium fields in order for the CIA
bankrolled operations to continue.

Soldier Admits To Helping Grow Opium In Afghanistan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfBQ_vi0xdA

Published on 23 Oct 2014

Infowars Reporter Joe Biggs Breaks down Why the Opium Trade in Afghanistan has
skyrocketed even though the US government has spent 7 Billion to halt opium growth.
He also gives a first hand account of missions he was on In Afghanistan where he was
told to guard opium fields. Our Government obviously isn't putting 7 billion dollars
towards stopping the growth opium and is instead helping its growth. So many people
every year get addicted to opiates and heroin. We know the CIA used Freeway Ricky
Ross to bring Cocaine in to California, What makes you think that they wont do it again.

AFGHAN OPIUM POPPY YIELD HITS ALL-TIME HIGH - http://www.infowars.com/afghan-opium-...

[Cidersomerset]

This is from 2011 some interesting information about the Global drug trade created
primary by the CIA after WW11.

The EyeOpener - White Gold Heroin & the Destabilization of Afghanistan

ey1f5igcNTU

28 August 2011

The Power(s) Behind Afghan Heroin & the Real Profiteers of the International Drug Trade

The idea that the drug trade in Afghanistan is enabled and protected by western interests
for their own benefit is by no means a new or controversial idea. After all, we are talking
about the third most lucrative commodity in the world behind oil and the arms trade.
However, the media coverage of this issue involving hundreds of billions of dollars is
another story. James Corbett brings to you questions and points not dared to be raised
by the media and pseudo alternatives alike.

This is our EyeOpener Video Report by James Corbett on Afghanistan's White Gold for
boilingfrogspost.com

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/...
http://www.corbettreport.com/support/

[Matt P]

But of course this was all by design. The united states government isn't a government at all. It's an organized crime syndicate. It's a beautiful system if I must say. They manipulate laws to keep natural plants illegal so they can make huge black market profits on them, which are off the books and used to fund all their secret programs. They encourage and fund the manufacture of cheap laboratory imitations (vaccines and pharmaceutical drugs) to make even more profit by keeping people sick and dependent. The banks and markets play along with the game because the cash keeps them liquid and they get a huge slice of the pie. In a nutshell the US "government" is the biggest drug pusher in the history of the known world.

Matt

[Ted]

Drugs are only illegal to stifle competition and keep prices high. The "war on drugs" only targets those people who aren't powerful enough to buy protection.

[Cidersomerset]

Drugs are only illegal to stifle competition and keep prices high.
The "war on drugs" only targets those people who aren't powerful enough
to buy protection.

I agree Ted......gives me an excuse for a 'rant'......


Aprox 3 mins into the James Corbett vid above he gives some figures for the Opium
trade from Afghanistan , not sure where he got them, but James is usually a
thorough researcher, and if they are wrong you will get the jist and why it was vital
to invade Afghanistan as part of the overall 9/11 Neo - con /NWO agenda... $ 1
Billion for the Farmers and growers. $ 3 Billion for Afghan officials and
transportation out of the country, the rest has a reported street value of $ 200
Billion, for that year. It obviously fluctuates but is a massive black budget cash crop
laundered by the 'Banksters'..............

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remember this propaganda lie and 'psyop'.........and Lies , Lies , Lies ............

Donald Rumsfeld, Tim Russert and the Imaginary Bin Laden Bunker Caves

QgWrnahej2c


===============================================


SURPRISE! Dick Cheney Admits Osama Bin Laden Wasn't Directly Involved In 9 11
Or Saddam , because he and his associates organised the attack on America,
he does not say that bit...LOL

IxqOESr6Hdw

Uploaded on 12 May 2011

Osama Bin Boogeyman Laden was NEVER on the FBI's most wanted list for any
participation in the 9 11 attack.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So Mr. Chaney , Mr.Bush , Mr Rumsfeld , Mr . Blair ..... Why did you invade Afghanistan ???


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rJpNP5-AK74/VJCHYwd4VJI/AAAAAAAAlrk/WWwXkgElWwI/s1600/Bush%2BCheney%2BBlair%2BCanada%2BWar%2BCriminals%2B09032009.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oloWYPWoIZ8/UlMHOxMUrrI/AAAAAAAAPTk/mxCnGIViTo8/s1600/not+afraid+of+muslims+afraid+of+psychopathic+leaers+obama+blair+bush+clinton+etc.jpg

[Cidersomerset]

This is a post from a previous thread with an excerpt from a very
good BBC doc before they were censored and made to tow the
party line after 7/7.


Worlds Apart ? BLATENT PROPAGANDA ? .......Bin Laden 'focused on US to the end', papers show

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?82358-Worlds-Apart-BLATENT-PROPAGANDA-.......Bin-Laden-focused-on-US-to-the-end-papers-show&p=962827#post962827



I imagine that it would have been a fun job supplying all the back story material that
was to be "recovered" from his hideout. All the pot, the books, emails, etc etc etc. I call bs on
the whole debacle.. I wonder what future crimes he will perpetrate? By the way, whatever
happened to al quieda? Did we win? Did they all retire? I wonder what happened to them all?
Well at least we have Isis to keep us busy..... Bs.... N

Very good NASU...LOL


As the old song goes....." Old Terrorists Never Die , They are Simply Blown Apart "
Or becomes leader of their countries and join the 'Establishment Club'...


Clips from some earlier 'Intel Productions'......

RAMBO 111

http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%802164.png

President Reagan meets with mixed Afghan delegation circa 1983 ?

http://wideshut.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/url.jpg


Taliban delegation invited to the US Before 9/11
https://img.youtube.com/vi/8IXW_5K0Y-A/0.jpg

Do-American-people-know-that-Taliban-delegation-was-invited-to-USA-and-treated-
as-Honorable-guest-before-911-attack-Why
https://www.quora.com/Do-American-people-know-that-Taliban-delegation-was-invited-to-USA-and-treated-as-Honorable-guest-before-911-attack-Why

huLx99_dopo


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Bin Laden: What Do We Really Know

The US/UK NATO led invasion of Afghanistan is one of the biggest scams of the
21st century to date , and it was only a year old when 9/11 happened the clammer
to invade and get Bin Laden was a psyop from the beginning....

Total fabrigation to get rid of the Taliban and reopen the poppy fields and opium
trade among other plans for the country. It was also all part of the destruction
of information in building seven. A convenient way to demolish the twin towers
that had to come down anyway as the cost of refurbishment was colossal. ' Lucky
Larry' my arse , the drills and all the other 'COINCIDENCES' are ridiculous....
The murder of all those innocent victims and the millions after have not been
brought to book to date !!

Anyway we were led to believe 'Al Quaeda ' were the devils army dug in with
more weapons than ' Texas' ....LOL

http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/2002image/netherpopup.gif

Dick Cheney...911 Remember the lies... Imaginary Bin Laden Bunker Caves
6Up_BRRiwXE

http://rasica.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/robin-cook.jpg

There is a good BBC doc and amongst the propaganda they do some good
docs and post articles on the website , but they are not highlighted .
I have posted it several times and i' looking for it now......

This is a really good segment.....

9/11 Truth - Al Qaeda Doesn't Exist

5fjzzgzZJns

There's no such thing as al Qaeda, or al Qaida, or however you want to spell it. It's
a fraud perpetrated on the American people by our own government to scare us
into submission. This is a clip from the excellent three-part BBC documentary "The
Power of Nightmares". You can watch the whole thing on Google Video or download
it at scholarsfor911truth.org.

"The Power of Nightmares - 3of3 - The Rise of the Politics of", audiovisual content administered by:
BBC Worldwide

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?82293-Bin-Laden-What-Do-We-Really-Know&p=962025#post962025

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?82358-Worlds-Apart-BLATENT-PROPAGANDA-.......Bin-Laden-focused-on-US-to-the-end-papers-show&p=962827#post962827

[Cidersomerset]

But of course this was all by design. The united states government isn't a government at all.
It's an organized crime syndicate. It's a beautiful system if I must say. They manipulate laws to keep
natural plants illegal so they can make huge black market profits on them, which are off the books and
used to fund all their secret programs. They encourage and fund the manufacture of cheap laboratory
imitations (vaccines and pharmaceutical drugs) to make even more profit by keeping people sick and
dependent. The banks and markets play along with the game because the cash keeps them liquid and
they get a huge slice of the pie. In a nutshell the US "government" is the biggest drug pusher in the
history of the known world.

Matt

Absolutely right Matt.....

[Morbid]

fyi the british royal family cartel owns world's opium traffic... using countries such as albania to smuggle into europe etc..

[Cidersomerset]

fyi the british royal family cartel owns world's opium traffic... using countries such as albania to smuggle into europe etc..

The drugs trade is very old and I think Hong Kong was founded as a British
colony as part of the Opium wars with China in the19th century, and I'm
sure part of the profits found it way back to the elitist establishment .

The British Royal and merchant naval fleets ruled the waves for over a
century which mean't the worldwide transport and distribution of these
narcotics were controlled by the crown and exchequer.

In the 20th century this has been taken over by the CIA and other
factions that are influenced and probably controlled by the same
elite families that ran and influenced the British , French and other
empires thru the centuries.


http://image.slidesharecdn.com/imperialismpowerpoint-100104145019-phpapp02/95/imperialism-power-point-32-728.jpg?cb=1262616696

[Cidersomerset]

THE GUARDIAN.......

Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high

Opium poppy cultivation is up in Afghanistan despite the infamous mercenary firm
formerly known as Blackwater being paid $569m by the Pentagon to stop it

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/EJN2JB/epa04681146-afghan-farmers-harvest-in-an-opium-poppy-field-in-jalalabad-EJN2JB.jpg

Afghan farmers harvest in an opium poppy field in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on 27
March 2015. Afghanistan is listed as world’s largest opium producer. Photograph:
Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA


Spencer Ackerman
Tuesday 31 March 2015 17.13 BST Last modified on Thursday 2 April 2015 23.31 BST

In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan stands out:
opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels
last year.Yet one clear winner in the anti-drug effort is not the Afghan people, but
the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.

Opium harvest in Afghanistan reaches record levels after troop withdrawal

Read more

Statistics released on Tuesday reveal that the rebranded private security firm,
known since 2011 as Academi, reaped over a quarter billion dollars from the futile
Defense Department push to eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 21% of the $1.5 bn
in contracting money the Pentagon has devoted to the job since 2002.

The company is the second biggest beneficiary of counternarcotics largesse in
Afghanistan. Only the defense giant Northrop Grumman edged it out, with $325m.

According to the US inspector general for Afghanistan “reconstruction”, the $309m
Academi got from US taxpayers paid for “training, equipment, and logistical
support” to Afghan forces conducting counternarcotics, such as “the Afghan
National Interdiction Unit, the Ministry of Interior, and the Afghan Border Police”.

Far from eradicating the deep-rooted opiate trade, US counternarcotics efforts have
proven useless, according to a series of recent official inquiries. Other aspects of
the billions that the US has poured into Afghanistan over the last 13 years of war
have even contributed to the opium boom.

In December, the United Nations reported a 60% growth in Afghan land used for
opium poppy cultivation since 2011, up to 209,000 hectares. The estimated $3bn
value of Afghan heroin and morphine represents some 15% of Afghan GDP.

“Given the growth in opium poppy cultivation, it must be assumed that the
Taliban’s income from the illegal trade in narcotics has remained an important
factor in generating assets for the group,” the United Nations reported.

That same month, the US inspector general for Afghanistan warned that the opium
trade would surely rise as international aid money flees the country with the
winding down of the war. Yet the inspector general also noted that US
reconstruction projects, particularly those devoted to “improved irrigation, roads,
and agricultural assistance” were probably leading to the explosion in opium
cultivation.

“[A]ffordable deep-well technology turned 200,000 hectares of desert in
southwestern Afghanistan into arable land over the past decade,” the inspector
general found, concluding that “much of this newly arable land is dedicated to
opium cultivation”.

Academi and its former Blackwater incarnation have an infamous history in
Afghanistan. It once set up shell companies to disguise its business practices,
according to a Senate report, so that its contracts would be unimpeded by company
employees’ killings of Iraqi and Afghan civilians.

Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince, sold the company – then renamed “Xe” – in
2010. Under new ownership, the firm occasionally gestures toward emphasizing its
original business training military and police personnel, but it has never quite
divested itself of its security contracting business.

In 2010, Blackwater was one of a group of firms selected by the State Department
for its $10bn contract to protect its diplomats worldwide, precisely the mission
Blackwater performed when its agents opened fire on Iraqi civilians at Baghdad’s
Nisour Square in 2007 and turned the company into the ugly face of private
security. The following year, the firm’s newly installed CEO pledged, “We’re not
backing away from security services.”

A spokesman for Academi’s parent company, the Constellis Group, said that the
current firm had separated itself from its Blackwater ancestry.


“When the ownership of Constellis Group purchased our Moyock, N.C. training
facility in 2010, Blackwater as the world knew it ceased to exist,” said spokesman
Tom McCuin.

“Since then, the new ownership, through a completely new management team,
have worked diligently to establish a reputation for competence and accountability.
I realize that for many skeptics, we have a long way to go toward winning their
trust, and that for some, nothing we do will ever change their view. I can only
reiterate how committed we are to delivering what we promise.”
This article was amended on Thursday 2 April. Since publication, the US Special
Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction significantly revised its estimates
of US counternarcotics contracting totals. This article has been updated accordingly.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/31/blackwater-gets-rich-afghanistan-drug-production

[Cidersomerset]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510M7GPJ0TL.jpg


All the blood spilled in Afghanistan to re - establish international drug cartel , that
was interrupted temporarily by the Taliban.....................



No one seems to know where the seeds originate from. The farmers of
Kandahar and Helmand provinces, where most of Afghanistan's poppies are grown,
say they were hand-delivered for planting early this year by the same men who
collect the opium after each harvest, and who also provide them with tools,
fertilizer, farming advice — and the much needed cash advance.

http://smoloko.com/wp-content/uploads/CLINTONBUSHCIAdrugMEME.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eJP9z3Sp2L4/UxenVYq4K_I/AAAAAAAAl2w/z7cNBIBa4iE/s1600/POLISEN-drug-dealers-heroin-cocaine-bush-bildt-reinfeldt-blair-thachi-clinton.jpg

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http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/data/upimages/route_drug_russia.jpg
RIA Novosti (Oct. 23, 2009): The most modern and the best equipped laboratories processing
opium poppy into heroin are located in the northern provinces of Afghanistan near the Tajik,
Turkmen and Uzbek borders, which are areas of influence of the Northern Alliance. The real
threat comes from drug bosses operating in the north of Afghanistan, "and the coalition
forces are not conducting an effective fight against them," the official said.

Read more: http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2009/10/23/north-afghanistan-a-bridgehead-for-drug-trafficking-to-russia.html#ixzz3jr1lXSot

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2009/10/23/north-afghanistan-a-bridgehead-for-drug-trafficking-to-russia.html
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https://theflippintruth.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/483699_534547569916863_831385705_n.jpg?w=326


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Huffington Post............


Afghanistan's Poppy Farmers Say New Seeds Will Boost Opium Output

By MIRWAIS KHAN and LYNNE O'DONNELL
Posted: 05/05/2015 4:51 pm EDT Updated: 05/05/2015 4:59 pm EDT

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2916486/images/n-AFGHANISTAN-OPIUM-large570.jpg

ZHARI, Afghanistan (AP) — It's the cash crop of the Taliban and the scourge of Afghanistan
— the country's intractable opium cultivation. This year, many Afghan poppy farmers are
expecting a windfall as they get ready to harvest opium from a new variety of poppy seeds
said to boost yield of the resin that produces heroin.

The plants grow bigger, faster, use less water than seeds they've used before, and give up to
double the amount of opium, they say.

No one seems to know where the seeds originate from. The farmers of Kandahar and Helmand
provinces, where most of Afghanistan's poppies are grown, say they were hand-delivered for
planting early this year by the same men who collect the opium after each harvest, and who
also provide them with tools, fertilizer, farming advice — and the much needed cash advance.

To the villagers, the shadowy men are intermediaries for drug lords and regional traffickers
working with or for the Taliban, underscoring the extensive web that fuels the opium trade
and keeps the poppy farmers in a clasp of terror and dependency. The impoverished famers
have little recourse but to accept the seeds and other farming materials on credit, to be paid
back when they harvest the crop, continuing a never ending cycle of debt.


Afghanistan's poppy harvest, which accounts for most of the world's heroin, is worth an estimated
$3 billion a year, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Production hit a
record high in 2014, up 17 percent compared to the year before, as opium and the drugs trade
continued to undermine security, rule of law and development, while funding both organized
crime and the Taliban — often one and the same.

The trend is expected to continue in 2015, in part thanks to the new poppy seeds, according to
officials tasked with overseeing the eradication of poppy crops.

This upcoming harvest in late spring is expected to surpass last year's country-wide record of
7,800 metric tons (8,600 U.S. tons) by as much as 7 percent and 22 percent in Kandahar and
Helmand provinces respectively, local officials said.

Experts say the Taliban, who have been waging war on the Kabul government for more than a
decade, derive around 40 percent of their funding from opium, which in turn fuels their insurgency.

Fierce fighting in recent months in poppy-growing regions shows the Taliban's determination to
protect their trafficking routes and the seasonal workers who come to earn money at harvest
time from government forces under orders to eradicate the crop.

Gul Mohammad Shukran, chief of Kandahar's anti-narcotics department, said the new seeds came
with the drug traffickers, but he did not know exactly where from. They yield "better drug plants,
which require less water and have a faster growth time."

"This is a big threat to everyone," he said, adding that Afghanistan's central authorities had failed
to act on his warnings.

Growing poppy for opium is illegal in Afghanistan and forbidden under Islam, the country's predominant
religion. But Afghan farmers feel they have no choice. For more than a decade the government and its
international partners have pleaded with them to grow something else — wheat, fruit or even saffron.

When that didn't work, the police were sent to destroy crops. And when that failed, the Americans and
the British tried handing out free wheat seeds, an enterprise that found little fertile ground.

This spring, the opium fields have again erupted in a sea of bright pink poppy flowers.

The new poppy seeds allow farmers to almost double the output from each plant, said Helmand's provincial
police chief Nabi Jan Malakhail. At harvest, collectors cut the bulb of the plant, allowing the raw opium to
ooze out. This resin dries and is collected the following day.

Malakhail said the new seeds grow bulbs that are bigger than usual and can be scored twice within a few days,
thus doubling the quantity of raw opium. The plants mature in three to four months, rather than the five months
of the previous seed variety, allowing farmers to crop three times a year instead of just twice.

In Kandahar's Zhari district, farmer Abdul Baqi said he knows poppy growing is illegal and that, given a choice,
he would "rather eat grass." But, he added, "I cannot feed my kids with nothing but the air."

Baqi said the Taliban and associated crime gangs make it easy for the farmers to produce opium, and
difficult — even deadly — not to.

Without government support, it's impossible to grow food crops as the cash-strapped farmers would have to pay
for the seeds, tools, fertilizer and irrigation themselves. No one would come and collect their crop, even if their
landlords allowed them to grow wheat or other food.

If the government took charge and provided irrigation and power, Hismatullah Janan, another Zhari poppy grower,
said he would gladly change to growing wheat or similar crops "so we could make an honest and decent living,
and leave this so-called dirty work behind."

Afghan anti-narcotics officials say they need international assistance to proceed with poppy eradication.

Yet since 2002, the United States has spent at least $7 billion "on a wide variety of programs to reduce
poppy cultivation, prevent narcotics production, treat drug addiction and improve the criminal justice
system to combat drug trafficking," John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction,
told the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control in January.Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the
world's opium and opiates originating from there find their way to every corner of the globe, Sopko said.
The Taliban will also likely be emboldened, since for the first time this year, there are no international combat
troops on the battlefields of Afghanistan after the NATO drawdown at the end of 2014.Many anti-narcotics
officials also left, fuelling concerns that Afghanistan's economic addiction to opium, worth around 15 percent
of its gross domestic product, would only grow, Sopko added.

Almost 90 percent of Afghanistan's poppy cultivation is in the south and the west — and provinces such as
Helmand and Kandahar, longtime Taliban strongholds, have become synonymous for poppy cultivation.

As opium production rises, so does Afghanistan's own drug addiction problem. Estimates put the number of
heroin addicts in the country at between 1.5 million and 2 million in a population estimated at around 30 million.
And the unchecked Afghan opium production is also blamed for rising drug addiction in neighboring countries,
including the former Soviet republics to the north, Iran to the west, and China and Pakistan to the east.

The UNODC can do little beyond encouraging the government to curb opium production, said the organization's
chief in Afghanistan, Andrey Avetisyan.

Kabul, with the support from the international community, he said, needs to find a way to introduce "crops that
can be a serious competition to opium."But for now, finding something more lucrative than the mystery poppy
seeds is a daunting task, so the vicious opium cycle continues.

___

Lynne O'Donnell reported from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Follow Lynne O'Donnell on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lynnekodonnell

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/05/afghanistan-opium_n_7216756.html

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http://coat.ncf.ca/59cover.JPG


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http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/62.jpg

[Cidersomerset]

"Of course we do not want to undermine our shares in the world drug cartel "..... LOL

=====================================================


Tories demolish 200,000-strong petition to legalise cannabis before it’s even debated

By David Icke on 26th August 2015 Illuminati Criminals, Medical/Health, Political Manipulation

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MIRROR ON LINE...............


http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Main-CanCameron.jpg



‘The government has moved to crush a 200,000-strong petition to legalise cannabis
before it’s even been debated.Activists hailed a victory when the huge campaign became
the second-most popular cause on a new government website – beaten only by a bid to
sack Jeremy Hunt.

It flew past 100,000 signatures, forcing a debate by a committee of 11 MPs when they
return from their summer holidays in a few weeks.The Tory administration has now
issued a thundering reply which says it has no plans to end the war on drugs.’


Read more: Tories demolish 200,000-strong petition to legalise cannabis before it’s even debated

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tories-demolish-200000-strong-petition-6321775

[Cidersomerset]

Who is Protecting the Drug Trade? Afghan Officials Blame
NATO after Eleven anti-Drug Police Officers Killed in Airstrike

By David Icke on 10th September 2015 War and Terror

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RT NEWS............

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/55ee6d5bc46188953f8b45b3.jpg

‘A US-led coalition airstrike killed 11 Afghan anti-drug police officers
in southern Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said Monday. Amid
conflicting reports, NATO has denied responsibility.

The airstrike hit the unstable, opium-rich province of Helmand on Sunday,
AFP cited officials as saying. “Eleven counter-narcotics police were killed
and four others were wounded in an airstrike carried out by international
forces in the Garmsir district of Helmand province,” deputy Interior
Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.’

Read more: Who is Protecting the Drug Trade? Afghan Officials Blame
NATO after Eleven anti-Drug Police Officers Killed in Airstrike

http://www.rt.com/news/314685-us-airstrike-officers-afghanistan/

[Cidersomerset]

Extensive Heroin Use in US. The Real Afghanistan Surge is in Opium Production

By David Icke on 17th September 2015 War and Terror

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Untitled23.jpg

‘Recently I worked in another Maine city and was astonished at the number of
patients I encountered who were using heroin. I had never seen anything like
it, during a lifetime practicing medicine. In New Hampshire, it was said, deaths
from heroin now exceed deaths from car accidents. Nationwide, CDC noted,
“Between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly
quadrupled, and more than 8,200 people died in 2013.” Massachusetts
(population under 7 million) had 1,000 deaths related to (all) opioids in
2014, “the highest ever recorded.“

I’ve heard stories on NPR about insufficient state funding of heroin treatment
facilities. I’ve heard about plans to make Narcan injections available to iv drug
users, for overdoses. Another popular angle I’ve seen repeated multiple times
(and one currently pushed by the US Drug Enforcement Agency) claims
prescription narcotics became harder to get, so users switched to heroin, instead.’

Read more: Extensive Heroin Use in US. The Real Afghanistan Surge is in Opium Production

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/09/the-real-afghanistan-surge-is-in-heroin-production-and-tripled-opium-cultivation-since-the-us-military-arrived-un-and-us-government-documents.html

[Cidersomerset]

Exposed: British Soldiers Protect Afghanistan Opium Trade

By David Icke on 13th October 2015 War and Terror

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://rinf.com/alt-news/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/rinf-logo.png

http://rinf.com/alt-news/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/afghan-opium-polytricks-620x330.jpg


Exposed: British Soldiers Protect Afghanistan Opium Trade
Oct 12, 2015

Opium Harvesting, c.200 metres from Camp Bastion Airfield Perimeter

http://rinf.com/alt-news/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ant1.jpg

‘In this 7.5° view of Afghanistan, captured from an Airfield guard tower, we
can see several less auspicious elements of the ISAF invasion and occupation:
• Corruption
• Duplicity
• Heroin Production
• Incompetence

The photograph shows five men harvesting opium a couple of hundred metres
from Camp Bastion perimeter defences, seen in the foreground.

Not only was this illegal drug production being carried out in the shadow of ISAF’s
Main Operating Base, it was being done under the protection of British soldiers.
Her Majesty’s Armed Forces (Army and RAF) were protecting this man’s cash crop
from illicit ‘taxation’ by the Afghan National Police or Army.’

The duplicity is in what the Ministry of Defence tell people we are doing, and what
we are actually doing. As this photo was taken there was a World Service edition of
‘From Our Own Correspondent’ playing. The particular BBC correspondent, Quentin
Somerville, was ‘embedded’ with British soldiers in Helmand, who were assisting
in the destruction of poppy fields. This must raise the question as to why poppy fields
on the edge of Bastion’s airfield were protected whilst another farmer’s crop in a
neighbouring valley was destroyed?

http://rinf.com/alt-news/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ant2.jpg

The land in the once barren valley was now watered by the effluent of the 30,000 people
living in Camp Bastion, creating a mini property boom for the owner of the land, a
Mohammad Daoud. The valley bordering Camp Bastion’s airfield had become a busy
agricultural area, with parcels of land rented out to tenant farmers, migrant farm labourers
camping a hundred metres from the defences, plus all the associated traffic.

Whether this is the same Mohammad Daoud as former Governor of Helmand Province Mohammad
Daoud is yet to be confirmed. If confirmed, the irony of former Governor Daoud having previously
championed British poppy eradication efforts would illustrate our corruption accurately.

To quote former Governor Daoud:

“Unless the international community includes poppy eradication and fighting drugs in their list of
ways to fight terrorism, they will not succeed in this fight because it (the drug trade) is the fuel
in the machine of terrorism.”

Our incompetence is best ‘illustrated’ by the deaths of two US Marines, Sergeant Bradley Atwell
and Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible, and the destruction of £200+ million worth of equipment,
in the Taliban’s audacious airfield raid of 2012.

The attackers of 14th September launched the raid from this same valley, where despite it’s proximity
to £££Billions of aircraft across the airfield, the Command appeared to assess the risk there as minimal
to non existent. This ‘lax’ attitude (criminal negligence in my eyes) reportedly extended to not providing
any night vision equipment to soldiers guarding the airfield on a moonless Afghan night. To describe
this as simple ‘incompetence’ is being very generous indeed to those responsible.

Two men are dead because the British Army and Royal Air Force failed to protect a stationary target –
an airfield. I can only apologize for my part in that.

Author: Anthony C Heaford
Craftsman / Vehicle Mechanic in British Territorial Army 2009 to 2013, No.30088729.
Six month tour of Afghanistan, April to October 2012. Based in Camp Bastion.

Read more: Exposed: British Soldiers Protect Afghanistan Opium Trade

http://rinf.com/alt-news/editorials/exposed-british-soldiers-protect-afghanistan-opium-trade/

[idiit]

excellent thread cindersomerset.

looks by the thumbs up you're getting here that the members are up to speed on this issue.

1/11 viewers are projectavalon members; 10/11 viewers are ppl coming in off msm looking for different perspectives. it's getting the message out to those 10/11 coming in for alternative perspectives that's going to change mass consciousness and help free the planet and it's inhabitants from the reptilian agenda.

isis in Syria and now the opium traffic are being destroyed by Russia, Iran and others joining the anti-cabal forces.

Germany took on the Zionists and got destroyed and history got rewritten to hide the NWO autrocities like eisenhowser death camps and more.

this time we gots China, Russia, Iran and others coming against the NWO elite cabal forces ( not all cabal sectors are Zionists but all are NWO).

I think you're doing a great job on isis and now the heroin drug trade. it's important work.

[idiit]

controllers of the Pentagon are themselves under the control of a secret occult-linked drug trafficking group.


Is the RKM World Control Grid run by a secret inter-generational "bloodline" group of Opium Traffickers that has infiltrated the Pentagon and uses the Israeli-American Terror machine as its enforcer ?

(rkm is rothschilds khazarian mafia kicked out of Ukraine by Russia)


This group is also believed to run the Israeli-American Terror machine and the private central Banking Systems run out of the City of London.

This group controls most of the World’s political systems through private Fiat central banking while waging wars to extend power and generate massive profits not otherwise possible.

But there have also been claims that this powerful group of “World Money-changers” originally gained much of its foreign power from creating and maintaining a large international opium trafficking network or cartel hidden behind a City of London Proprietary Intel operation.

Some historians believe that this large Opium trafficking group operated through a proprietary Intel front known as the British East India Company. read opium wars


It is now generally recognized that the *RKM is an inter-generational family-based private international central Fiat banking group insiders refer to as the “World Money-changers”, or “the Baby” because it is at the nexus of the revived mystery Babylonian Talmudic Banking system, also known as the “money from nothing” Babylonian Money-magick system.

Once the Rothschild Family took over the City of London after waterloo, their main goal adopted was to hijack and then revitalize the British Empire which was beginning to fail and shrink. But they intended to do so in a covert way so that each of the captive nations truly believed they were becoming independent.

The exceedingly crafty plan they developed was to set up a secret private central banking network to replace the visible British Colonial governments. But in order to do this they deemed it was necessary to gain secret control over most of the underworld crime groups in these colonies and use this criminal network to build up the strength of their secret empire.

continue to read this excellent article here: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/10/17/the-pentagons-biggest-dirty-secret/

usa is under Zionist control. Afghanistan/Iraq/turkey are key elements in the global opium/heroin epidemic. must read article explains "the insanity" that once you get it is no longer insane.

fiat currency, heroin; global enslavement devices.

the Zionists are actually khazarian luciferians. Saudi royals are Zionists.

putin, china, iran are putting an end to global fiat currency (frn$) and heroin trafficking out of opium producing nations guarded by usa and nato military forces.

this is a critical thread in understanding the carnage in the middle east.

90% of all casualties are innocent civilians; mostly women and children.

dorothy has peeled back the curtain.

[Pam]

The other part of the puzzle: all the misery from those addicted to these drugs filling the jails and prisons which is another big business for these filthy, corrupt mobsters known at "government officials".


Of the 2.3 million inmates crowding our nations prisons and jails, 1.5 million meet the DSM-IV medical criteria for substance abuse or addiction, and another 458,000, while not meeting the strict DSM-IV criteria, had histories of substance abuse; were under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of their crime; committed their offense to get money to buy drugs; were incarcerated for an alcohol or drug law violation; or shared some combination of these characteristics, according to Behind Bars II: Substance Abuse and America’s Prison Population. Combined these two groups constitute 85% of the U.S. prison population. Quoted from CASA Report, 2010


Of course that doesn't include those that have had there behavior altered by prescribed psychoactive drugs that have played havoc on their biochemistry enough to cause those that would never commit a crime to do so.

[Alpha141]

If you are interested in this topic. The series of printings of a book called 'Dope Inc' are exceptional. I am at present reading the 1992 (3rd) version that is very long. But amazing info. Basically, the present financial system and 'Old Money' is basically founded on the opium trade from the last few centuries.

7peKQze6xoY

People i suggest looking out for are Daniel Hopsicker, Dean Henderson, Mary Kienholz along with EIR (Executive Intelligence Review as the above interview is a representation of).

A clip from Daniel Hopsicker from about 57min on is included in my series below also which gets his views on that quote Peterpam re poisoning people for nothing while the real crooks get away with trading this stuff by the tonne etc:

0Gv-6FALczE

Enjoy

[idiit]

If you are interested in this topic. The series of printings of a book called 'Dope Inc' are exceptional

the author of one of my posted articles said the same.

[Cidersomerset]

US military recommended 20,000 troops in Afghanistan: McCain

By David Icke on 21st October 2015


PRESS TV....

US military recommended 20,000 troops in Afghanistan: McCain

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/181e80cb-f97c-4922-b3a0-118bbffc8369.jpg


”US military leaders have recommended that Washington should leave as many
as 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan after 2016, says Senator John McCain.

“Well, [the]first recommendation I’m told was 20,000,” the Arizona Republican
said in an interview aired Monday night, according to The Hill.

“I would have, I think, been comfortable with, say, 10,000 to 15,000. But —
again — it’s very clear that what you need to do is withdraw on basic conditions,
not on calendar,” the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee added.

Read more: US military recommended 20,000 troops in Afghanistan: McCain

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/10/20/434199/US-Afghanistan-US-troops-

[Cidersomerset]

US government heroin business in Afghanistan

By David Icke on 21st October 2015

TmhDCL45x-Y

Published on 19 Oct 2015

[Cidersomerset]

The Longest U.S. War, Prolonged: After Vowing Afghan Pullout, Obama Extends
Occupation Indefinitely

4rwdiJ1Ne_Y

Published on 17 Oct 2015


Democracynow.org - President Obama has reversed plans to withdraw most U.S.
troops from Afghanistan by the time he leaves office. On Thursday, Obama said a
deteriorating security situation will force him to maintain the current deployment of
9,800 soldiers through 2016. When Obama’s term ends in 2017, the U.S. will keep
at least 5,500 troops at four bases across Afghanistan. After 14 years of war, the
Taliban now holds more of Afghanistan than at any point since the 2001 U.S.
invasion, and some estimates put them in control of half the country. President
Obama’s announcement comes nearly a year after he declared an official end to the
U.S. combat mission, though U.S. military operations have continued. The move
assures that despite previous pledges, the war will continue under his successor.
We are joined by Intercept reporters Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Devereaux and Cora
Currier, whose new series "The Drone Papers" includes a detailed look at the drone
war in Afghanistan based on government leaks.

Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on
1,300+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9am
ET: http://democracynow.org

Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy
Now! today: http://democracynow.org/donate

[idiit]

^ gots to guard dem opium fields. :)

[TargeT]

When we were deployed over there we would burn their current cash crop "Cannabis" and the reasoning was that the plant gives off a heat signature and insurgents could hide in them at night (Night vision was, and is our main advantage for boots on ground troops).

I've got pictures of my friends in big fields right before they were burned (nice 2-2.5 meter tall plants). I'm sure it was devastating to the local farmers, but hey, now they have Poppy power!

The influx of Heroin to the streets of my town (Anchorage, Alaska at the time) was almost comically timed with the return of some of the early deployments to Afghanistan.

it seems so blatantly obvious, but only for those who are willing to see I guess.

[idiit]

Request for McCain Investigation for Narcotics Trafficking and War Crimes


The Main Reasons the United States Invaded Afghanistan are to Control the Rare Earth Elements (REEs), Geopolitical, because Afghanistan is the Heart of Central Asia and to Control the Narcotics; U.S. War Profiteers Continue the War and Occupation to Continue Their Profits

http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Kaiser_415.jpg


It has also been alleged that some U.S. Senators, who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, are profiting from the drug trafficking such as through the provision of necessary chemicals to convert the raw opium to heroin. It appears that Senator McCain tries to keep an arm’s length distance from his wife’s war profits to try to shield himself from conflict of interest problems. However, since Senator McCain is presently serving as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee I strongly believe that the ethics committee should investigate these allegations.

Kaiser_416It is time that the American and Afghan people stand up and request investigations regarding the funding of the so-called “ISIL” fighters in Afghanistan. I believe individuals such as U.S. Senator John McCain are obstacles to peace in Afghanistan because of the war profiteering in his family. When I was in Afghanistan I heard that some top U.S. government officials were profiteering from the war and drug trafficking in Afghanistan

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/10/23/378169/

[idiit]

Russia Takes Over The Mid-East: Moscow Gets Green Light For Strikes In Iraq, Sets Up Alliance With Jordan

dem opium fields gots short lives me thinks. :)


Russia Takes Over The Mid-East: Moscow Gets Green Light For Strikes In Iraq, Sets Up Alliance With Jordan
10/24/2015

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-24/russia-takes-over-mid-east-moscow-gets-green-light-strikes-iraq-sets-alliance-jordan

[idiit]

we're used to kick the can. the cabal has been masters at kick the cn.

we're still waiting for so many + events to transpire; starting with the event!

new sheriff in town. the fiat$ is toast thanks to Russia and china.

the heroin drug trade including the carnage in se asia ( Vietnam) when that area produced the global supply of heroin. now it's mexico and middle east carnage.

big changes now that Russia took over the war in Syria from the ppl who are actually behind isis.

Russia will not allow these opium fields to exist much longer. already announcements of the Syrian conflict migrating to Afghanistan and Iraq. the entire middle east gig included the usa government psychopaths keeping their grip on the enormous heroin drug profits. that's finito, and quick me thinks.

about time.

i'm not against America. i'm against Zionists. i'm against criminal psychopaths no matter what nation they control.

[idiit]

Why did Afghanistan Get An Earthquake?
By Katherine Frisk on October 27, 2015


So there you have it. Games on! Obama has reversed the planned pullout of US troops to that country, if anything he will most probably send in more.

The opium fields are at stake here, and without it billions in profits will be lost. Afghanistan is the world’s largest supplier of heroin that lines the pockets of the warmongers in Washington. Without it they will have to create another war somewhere and go farm somewhere else. I am betting on West Africa. Cameroon is a possibility, maybe Nigeria. Boko Harem is already busy in that part of the world and we have got a “war on terror”to fight as you already well know.


When I read about the earthquake in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, my first thought was,

Ok, what did they do now? Fail to deliver the opium? Trade in Yuan instead of dollars? Join the AIIB? Sign agreements to be part of the Silk Road project? What now?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2YWqVpT4E

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/10/27/why-did-afghanistan-get-an-earthquake/

[idiit]

Proxy War Paradox: US To Put More Boots On Ground In Iraq As Baghdad Looks To Moscow

I wonder why?

I wonder what Russia, china and iran will do about it?

I wonder who's getting tired of the massive amounts of street heroin turning their citizens into a bunch of junkies?

i'm thinking "opium wars".


of course there must be a cover story.......

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-27/proxy-war-paradox-us-put-more-boots-ground-iraq-baghdad-looks-moscow

[idiit]

US Wipes Out Iraq Army Unit in No So “Friendly Fire” Incident
By GPD on October 27, 2015

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/10/27/us-wipes-out-iraq-army-unit-in-no-so-friendly-fire-incident/


Proxy War Paradox: US To Put More Boots On Ground In Iraq As Baghdad Looks To Moscow

^ link in previous post.

wonder why Iraq is looking to Moscow! :)

the opium wars never ended!

for those flag waving, flag lapel pin wearing folk that haven't been informed as to the real truth; the opium wars were waged against china by primarily England and America in supporting role forcing china to accept opium to regain the silver bullion spent on the tea, silk exports from china. china ended up wid a bunch of junkies and tried to stop the influx of opium that was destroying her ppl. that's THE OPIUM WARS.

opium wars:


In the 17th and 18th centuries, the demand for Chinese goods (particularly silk, porcelain, and tea) in the European market created a trade imbalance because the market for Western goods in China was virtually non-existent; China was largely self-sufficient and Europeans were not allowed access to China's interior. European silver flowed into China when the Canton System, instituted in the mid-17th century, confined the sea trade to Canton and to the Chinese merchants of the Thirteen Factories. The British East India Company had a matching monopoly of British trade. The British East India Company began to auction opium grown on its plantations in India to independent foreign traders in exchange for silver. The opium was then transported to the China coast and sold to Chinese middlemen who retailed the drug inside China. This reverse flow of silver and the increasing numbers of opium addicts alarmed Chinese officials.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War


Intervention of the United States[edit]

The United States and Russia sent envoys to Hong Kong to offer help to the British and French, though in the end Russia sent no military aid.[citation needed]

The U.S. was involved in a minor concurrent conflict during the war, although they ignored the UK's offer of alliance and did not coordinate with the Anglo-French forces. In 1856, the Chinese garrison at Canton shelled a United States Navy steamer;[6] the U.S. Navy retaliated in the Battle of the Pearl River Forts. The ships bombarded then attacked the river forts near Canton, taking them. Diplomatic efforts were renewed afterward, and the American and Chinese governments signed an agreement for U.S. neutrality in the Second Opium War.[citation needed]

Despite the U.S. government's promise of neutrality, the USS San Jacinto aided the Anglo-French alliance in the bombardment Taku Forts in 1859; see below for details.[9]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War


The U.S. treaty was somewhat longer than the British version, as it included major points from the Treaty of Nanjing, but also added some issues of particular interest to the United States. Article 17 protected the interests of American missionaries in China (several had acted as translators during the negotiation process). Article 18 allowed Americans living or working in China to employ tutors to help them learn Chinese, a practice formerly forbidden by the Chinese Government. Unlike Great Britain, the United States agreed that anyone involved in the opium trade or the smuggling of contraband would be prosecuted under Chinese law, but, with that exception, the treaty allowed for other Americans in China to be afforded the benefits of extraterritoriality. This meant that any American accused of committing a crime in China would not be subject to the jurisdiction of the local law, but would instead be tried and, if necessary, punished by American officials in China. Due to the most-favored-nation clause in all of the western powers' treaties with the Chinese Government, any special consideration given one power could ultimately be claimed by them all.

http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/dwe/82011.htm

where was that page of history in our formal "education"? :)

[/B]

[idiit]

UK troops to stay in Afghanistan
Published time: 27 Oct, 2015 15:57

https://www.rt.com/uk/319870-british-troops-remain-afghanistan/

[Cidersomerset]

Afghan Overdose: Battle against the opium trade

By David Icke on 28th October 2015

07c23i-jeL8

Published on 26 Oct 2015


Afghanistan is the world’s biggest exporter of black-market opium, from which
heroin is made. It’s a multi-billion dollar business, responsible for around a
hundred thousand deaths every year and it’s a major source of income for
terrorists. RT Doc traveled to the poppy fields where death is harvested to
find out why no one can put a stop to this deadly trade.

RTD WEBSITE: http://RTD.rt.com/

[Cidersomerset]

I have no doubt Harry is sincere and as a veteran of Afghanistan conflict
its a part of his life and gives him some focus and perspective on motality.

But its sickening that these young men and woman were used , even if
some willingly went as professional service personell . In manipulated
wars for the elites to play out their agendas.

=================================================

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.91.2/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Prince Harry meets Barack Obama to promote Invictus Games

28 minutes ago
From the section UK

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/BC45/production/_86379184_029851984-1.jpg
Prince Harry met Barack Obama at the Oval Office in the White House

Prince Harry has met US president Barack Obama during a visit to the US to promote the Invictus Games.

The prince met Mr Obama in the Oval Office of the White House for an informal chat.

Earlier he joined Michelle Obama to meet injured service personnel in Virginia, and is set to meet
Games organisers at the British ambassador's residence in Washington DC.

The Games are an international event for injured and sick service personnel.

The first Invictus Games took place in London last year, with the next due in Orlando, Florida, next year.

Read More....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34649863

=========================================================
=========================================================



http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/sites/default/files/newsanddiaryimages/PA-19220932.jpg

http://identitydesigned.com/images/lambie-nairn/invictus-games-01.jpg

[Cidersomerset]

Disrupted oil routes push ISIS towards heroin trade, already 1 $bn a year

b-g5mW8TSF4

Published on 1 Dec 2015


As coalition attacks on ISIL-controlled oil sites intensify, militants are being
forced to look, not only for a new stronghold, but also for new sources of income.

[Shannon]

^^i bet the CIA won't like them elbowing in on their product...oh wait, same people with the same boss ...silly me. :)

[Cidersomerset]

Turkish labs turn Afghan opium into heroin for shipping to Europe – Russian anti-drug agency

By David Icke on 22nd December 2015

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/56790217c36188492d8b45bc.jpg


An Iranian anti-narcotics policeman stands guard beside a display of confiscated
drugs during a ceremony concluding anti-narcotics manoeuvres in Zahedan

‘Afghan opium is being processed into high-grade heroin in clandestine Turkish drug
labs for distribution in Europe and Russia, Russia’s anti-drug chief has revealed. The
trafficking route was exposed after a joint Russian-Afghan anti-drug operation.

“The cargo traveled through Badakhshan-Doshi-Bamiyan-Herat, then further through
Iran and into Turkey, where the opium was processed in well-equipped laboratories…
into high quality heroin, and then was to be sent to Europe and Russia,” Ivanov said
during an anti-narcotics committee meeting.’

Read more: Turkish labs turn Afghan opium into heroin for shipping to Europe – Russian anti-drug agency




https://www.rt.com/news/326731-turkey-afghanistan-heroin-europe/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

[Cidersomerset]

While the focus is on Syria and Libya , fighting is
still smouldering away in Afghanistan....

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.7.3/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Afghanistan: Sangin almost entirely in Taliban hands

22 minutes ago

Short vid on link...http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-35167983

Latest reports from southern Afghanistan suggest that Sangin
district in Helmand province is now almost entirely under
Taliban control after days of fierce fighting.

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/16892/production/_87360329_sangin_624.png


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-35167983

[Cidersomerset]

“The war in Afghanistan has morphed; it’s not about al-Qaeda anymore, and it’s not about the Taliban

IT NEVER WAS !!!!!!!!

From article....


Add the dramatic surge in opium production since the 2001 invasion of the country to its geopolitical
importance and mineral wealth, and it’s clear to see why the US will continue to have a presence in Afghanistan
for “another half-century.”



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US Will Have a Presence in Afghanistan for Another 50 Years – Retired Army Colonel

By David on 16th February 2016 War and Terror

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Lawrence-Wilkerson-G-620x348.jpg
retired US Army Colonel, Lawrence Wilkerson

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wnSF297hwL8/VNwwLDw88PI/AAAAAAAAC5o/35ATiwVhL5I/s1600/Global%2Bresearch.png


US Will Have a Presence in Afghanistan for Another 50 Years. Retired Army Colonel

By Steven MacMillan

Global Research, February 15, 2016

New Eastern Outlook 15 February 2016


‘Afghanistan is a geostrategic and economic prize that the West will not want to
relinquish anytime soon.

In an interview at the end of 2015, the former chief of staff to Colin Powell and
retired US Army Colonel, Lawrence Wilkerson [pictured left], outlined the realistic
timescale he believes the US will be involved in Afghanistan, in addition to
emphasizing the strategic importance of the country to the US. Speaking to
Abby Martin on her show ‘The Empire Files’ for Telesur, Wilkerson asserted that
the “US presence in Afghanistan will not go away for another half-century”’

“The war in Afghanistan has morphed; it’s not about al-Qaeda anymore, and it’s not
about the Taliban anymore. It’s about China; Russia – the soft underbelly which is
mostly Muslim of Russia; about Pakistan; about Iran; about Syria; about Iraq;
about whether a Kurdistan is stood up or not; and ultimately about oil,
water and energy in general. And the US presence in Afghanistan, I’ll predict right
now, will not go away for another half-century… And it will grow, it will not decrease.”

This revelation by Wilkerson is important as the majority of the Western public
continues to believe that the war in Afghanistan is predominately to do with fighting
terrorism. Realistically, the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan never really had anything
to do with terrorism, but everything to do with geopolitics and the vast amount of
economic riches the country possesses.

Similar to many other imperial wars we have seen in recent years, evidence
suggests that the war in Afghanistan was pre-planned at least months prior to
9/11. The BBC reported on the 18th of September 2001 that Niaz Naik, a former
Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by US officials in July that the US was
planning to attack Afghanistan in the coming months. A report by a bipartisan
commission of inquiry in 2004 also revealed that the Bush administration had
agreed on a plan to attack Afghanistan the day before 9/11.

Then, perfectly on time, 9/11 (also dubbed by the neoconservatives the “new Pearl
Harbour” event) happens, giving the West the ideal justification to invade and
occupy the country in addition to launching the global war on terror.

A look at the map reveals the geostrategic importance of Afghanistan, as it sits
between Iran, China, Pakistan and the Central Asian Republics. As Wilkerson
emphasizes, US military presence in Afghanistan is about an array of factors, most
notably “about China,” “Iran” and “Russia.” Similar to the great game in previous
centuries, Afghanistan and Central Asia will be a place of fierce competition
between major powers in the coming years.

Broken Promises

Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan has been one of the biggest pledges Obama
has made since being elected President in 2008. Afghanistan is the most unpopular
war in history according to some US polls, and Obama has repeatedly said he would
pull all US troops out of the country. In 2012, he reiterated his position once again,
stating that all US troops would be “out of there by 2014.”

Unsurprisingly, this was yet another broken promise by the puppet in chief. In
October of last year, Obama announced that he would keep almost 10,000 troops
in Afghanistan, and unless there is a dramatic shift in US foreign policy when the
next President takes office, US troops will remain in the country for decades to
come. Even if all US troops are withdrawn in the years to come, the legions of
private armies comprised of mercenaries and contractors will continue to operate in
the country.

An Abundance of Riches

As the New York Times reported in a 2010 article titled: US Identifies Vast Mineral
Resources in Afghanistan, the country is home to vast amounts of precious
minerals. From copper to iron, gold to lithium, the mineral wealth of Afghanistan is
estimated to worth approximately $1 trillion. In the modern world, materials such
as lithium are extremely valuable, with the light-weight metal being used in the
majority of laptops and smartphones.

The NYT article is filled with its usual spin and disinformation however, as it tries to
argue that the mineral discovery is somehow a recent one. Contrary to this
narrative, Afghanistan’s mineral wealth has been well-known since at least the
1970’s, and was clearly known by strategists in Washington for decades.

Add the dramatic surge in opium production since the 2001 invasion of the country
to its geopolitical importance and mineral wealth, and it’s clear to see why the US
will continue to have a presence in Afghanistan for “another half-century.”

Steven MacMillan is an independent writer, researcher, geopolitical analyst and
editor of The Analyst Report, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.



Read more: US Will Have a Presence

http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-will-have-a-presence-in-afghanistan-for-another-50-years-retired-army-colonel/5507998

[Morbid]

my afghani friend told me once in 2012 or so that americans were building huge underground military facilities in the middle of nowhere there, so they knew from the start that it wasnt a momentary endeavor and us army is there to stay..

[Enola]

Hard at work breaking down Northern Europe.

[Cidersomerset]

A Conspiracy Theory that became a 'Conspiracy Fact': The CIA, Afghanistan’s Poppy Fields and America’s Growing Heroin Epidemic

By David on 2 July 2016 GMT

https://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CNMWv7YUcAANkLP.jpg


‘In the suburbs of Long Island, NY, heroin use is an increasing problem. According to
www.suburbanheroin.com a website devoted to the heroin epidemic on Long Island
states that in 2012 – 2013 more than 242 people died from heroin use. Long Island
is home to some of the wealthiest communities in New York State which goes to show
that heroin is affecting all neighborhoods rich and poor.

The NBC news report said that the CDC admitted that heroin has become an epidemic
since 2002 “The CDC reports that between 2002 and 2014 the rate of heroin-related
overdose deaths more than quadrupled and more than 10,500 died nationwide in 2014.”

Now the question is why heroin use has dramatically increased since 2002? Maybe the U.S.
invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 after the September 11th attacks under the Bush
regime had something to do with it? The main-stream media (MSM) establishment mouthpiece
The Washington Post admitted in 2006 that heroin production in Afghanistan “broke all records”
while under U.S. occupation:’

Read more: A Conspiracy Theory that became a ‘Conspiracy Fact’: The CIA, Afghanistan’s Poppy
Fields and America’s Growing Heroin Epidemic

http://silentcrownews.com/wordpress/?p=4915

[Cidersomerset]

US to leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan into 2017, 35 percent more than anticipated

By David on 7 July 2016 GMT

Must be expecting a good crop next year.

https://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2e1e8f7732e3ab0e0e4706934871_w720_h459_gi-photo-248866.jpg

‘The United States will leave more troops in Afghanistan at the end of the year
than previously announced, President Barack Obama said.

America’s combat mission in Afghanistan “came to a responsible end” a year and
a half ago, Obama said. Forces there are now focused on “two narrow missions”:
training and terrorism prevention. “But even these narrow missions continue to
be dangerous.”’

Read more: US to leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan into 2017, 35 percent more than expected

https://www.rt.com/usa/349693-obama-afghanistan-withdrawal-number/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

[Cidersomerset]

To much money to be made to legalise it.....


Bill Hicks - War On Drugs

By David on 7 July 2016 GMT

29KVuxEwlRM

[Cidersomerset]

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.20.0/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

UK to send 50 additional troops to Afghanistan

4 hours ago

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/11E7/production/_90338540_033888972-1.jpg
The additional British military personnel will help train and mentor Afghan forces

The UK is to send up to 50 additional military personnel to Afghanistan to train
and advise security forces there.They will join the 450 British troops already in
the country - and will aid counter-terrorism efforts and provide leadership training.
Officials have said the additional troops will not be taking part in combat operations
against the Taliban.UK troops had been due to leave Afghanistan this year but will
now have their mission extended into 2017.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who is attending a Nato summit in Warsaw, will
announce the deployment later.

It comes after US President Barack Obama this week announced a slowdown in
the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36753390

[Cidersomerset]

'Hands Dripping with the Blood of the Afghan People': US Agrees to Pardons and Rewards Warlord

By David on 26 September 2016 GMT War and Terror

The peace deal amounts to a bribe for warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to not commit
crimes and terrorism, says Sonali Kolhatkar, host of “Rising Up With Sonali” on KPFA


NwbaUvNQjk4

Published on 24 Sep 2016
The peace deal amounts to a bribe for warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to not commit crimes and
terrorism, says Sonali Kolhatkar, host of “Rising Up With Sonali” on KPFA

[Cidersomerset]

Why The Hell Are We Still in Afghanistan?

ZyJfdmFl0vY

Published on 26 Sep 2016

SHOW NOTES AND MP3: https://www.corbettreport.com/?p=19975

15 years later, the US and its NATO allies still have troops in Afghanistan with
no plans on leaving. We were told this was about 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden,
but these were lies. So why are the troops still there? What was the war in
Afghanistan really about? Michel Chossudovsky of the Centre for Research
on Globalization joins us to explain.

[TargeT]

If you know anyone with an opiate issue Kratom (http://ensobotanicals.com/kratom/) (while still legal) is suppose to be an excellent plant-based method to get through the withdrawal. Very successful treatment agent apparently.

[Cidersomerset]

US Empire’s Interest in Afghanistan – It’s the Heroin, Stupid

By David on 2 October 2016 GMT

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.strategic-culture.org/images/site/logo.png

http://www.strategic-culture.org/images/news/2016/09/29/or-37967.jpg

Pepe ESCOBAR | 29.09.2016 | OPINION

Afghanistan; It’s the Heroin, Stupid

‘Here we go again. In yet another Pentagon precision strike, a residential building
in Achin district of Nangarhar province was hit as a crowd welcomed home a tribal
leader returning from the Hajj.

At least 13 civilians were turned into “collateral damage”. The Pentagon of course
does not discuss the details of counter-terror operations, but it’s currently reviewing
all materials related to this strike.

Nothing obviously will come out of it – adding the civilian dead to the non-stop
mounting toll of Operation Enduring Freedom (Forever).’

Read more: US Empire’s Interest in Afghanistan – It’s the Heroin, Stupid

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/09/29/afghanistan-it-heroin-stupid.html

[Cidersomerset]

15 Years Later the Taliban Is Back in Power in Afghanistan, and More Radical Than Ever

By David on 7 October 2016 GMT

https://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/download-2-1.jpg


http://www.alternet.org/sites/all/themes/custom/alternet/logo.png

15 Years Later the Taliban Is Back in Power in Afghanistan, and More Radical Than Ever

A complete disaster up and down the line.

By Vijay Prashad / AlterNet

October 5, 2016

‘Fifteen years ago, the United States went to war on Afghanistan. It was the opening salvo
in the Global War on Terror. Massive US bombardment chased the Taliban and al-Qaeda into
the mountains as well as into neighboring states – such as Pakistan. Amongst those who fled
the scene was Osama Bin Laden, who was not killed until 2011 – ten years later. The US war
aims were simple: prevent Afghanistan from being a haven for al-Qaeda and bring democracy
to Afghanistan by ejecting the Taliban. There were also noises made about liberating women
and educating the Afghan citizenry.

A decade and a half later, the Taliban is back in force. It commands large parts of the countryside,
and threatens major urban areas. Kunduz, in the north, has been going back and forth between
the Taliban and the Afghan National Army. Just this week, the Taliban forces took the center of
the city, only to be ejected a day later.’

Read more: 15 Years Later the Taliban Is Back in Power in Afghanistan, and More Radical Than Ever

http://www.alternet.org/world/taliban-back-power

[Cidersomerset]

What You Are Not Being Told About the Afghanistan War

jUvgnt-cOqI

Published on 11 Oct 2016


TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES: https://www.corbettreport.com/?p=20063

15 years after NATO's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the 9/11 and Al Qaeda
lies that were used to justify the war have disappeared. Now the truth about oil and
gas, mineral wealth, opium and naked imperial ambition are all that remain.

[Cidersomerset]

US Congress’s Take on the Heroin Epidemic. 6400 tons Produced in US-Occupied Afghanistan…

By David on 21 October 2016 GMT


http://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/themes/dissident/images/header.jpg

Congress’s Take on the Heroin Epidemic
by William Edstrom / October 17th, 2016

‘A heroin epidemic is on fire all across America. Heroin deaths shot up from 1,779 in 2001 to
10,574 in 2014 as Afghan opium poppy fields metastasized from 7,600 hectares in 2001 (when
the War in Afghanistan began) to 224,000 hectares currently.

The Taliban outlawed opium in Afghanistan in 2000 and within a year it was all but gone,
demonstrating that Afghan opium can be eradicated quickly for any administration that chooses
to do so. Afghanistan is, by far, the number one source globally of both opium and heroin.’

Read more: US Congress’s Take on the Heroin Epidemic. 6400 tons Produced in US-Occupied Afghanistan…

http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/10/congresss-take-on-the-heroin-epidemic/

[Cidersomerset]

Anarchy is Good for Business: Afghani Opium Production Jumps 43%

By David on 25 October 2016 GMT

SPUTNICK............

Asia & Pacific21:46 23.10.2016(updated 16:47 24.10.2016)


The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reports that opium production in Afghanistan
has jumped by 43%, with total land area used for poppy cultivation growing by
10% and exceeding 200,000 hectares. Radio Sputnik discussed the situation
with Afghan security and drug trade researcher Najibullah Noorzai.

‘According to the UN report, compiled in coordination with the Afghan
Ministry of Counter Narcotics, total opium poppy production amounted
to 4,800 metric tons in 2016, with rising production triggered in part
by a 91% decrease in eradication efforts, due to the poor security
situation on the ground and a lack of specialized funding and logistics.

Following the US-UK and NATO invasion in 2001, Afghanistan has grown
to become the source of over 90% of the world’s heroin.’

Read more: Anarchy is Good for Business: Afghani Opium Production Jumps 43%


https://sputniknews.com/asia/201610231046644132-afghanistan-opium-production-jump-commentary/

[Cidersomerset]

The REAL Reason Why the US Military is in Afghanistan

3qbazLqzjY0

Published on 21 Jun 2017

In today's video, Chad Boukzam of AMTV reports the REAL Reason Why the US Military is in Afghanistan.

[Cidersomerset]

Global Opium Epidemic: Killing Industry of Afghanistan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2waiRnURAc

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c2waiRnURAc/hqdefault.jpg

Published on 23 Jun 2017
Almost 30 million people around the world suffer from drug addiction, as according
to annual UN report, opioids are named as the most harmful drug type. The
document says that the marked increasing global opium production is primarily
due to rising poppy yields in Afghanistan. RT’s Murad Gazdiev with a special report
from Afghanistan.

[Cidersomerset]

War Addiction: Afghans’ opioid production boosted after US invasion

qfvXky8Ixms

Published on 20 Aug 2017
The US war in Afghanistan also appears to be fueling
America's opioid crisis. RT's Caleb Maupin has more.

==================================================
==================================================

Afghanistan's rising heroin problem is targeting its youth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scZV3rDLmR0
Published on 1 Feb 2017
Heroin addiction is spiraling in Afghanistan. Around 10 percent of the population is
addicted to hard drugs according to the public health ministry. Report by Sarah Duffy.

[Cidersomerset]

A Conspiracy Theory that became a “Conspiracy Fact”: The CIA,
Afghanistan’s Poppy Fields and America’s Growing Heroin Epidemic

By Timothy Alexander Guzman
Global Research, March 24, 2017
Silent Crow
http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CIA-US-MILITARY-HEROIN.jpg

First published by Global Research in July 2016

The heroin epidemic resembles the days when “Crack cocaine” became the major
drug that destroyed communities across the United States and other parts of the
world including the Caribbean that began in the early 1980’s. The Crack epidemic
coincidently began around the same time when the Iran-Contra Scandal was being
exposed. U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Miami and New York City experienced a
rise in crime and disease. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported back in
2015 that “heroin use in the United States increased 63% from 2002 through 2013.”
Fast forward to 2016, heroin is sweeping across the United States at unprecedented
levels.


read more....
http://www.globalresearch.ca/a-conspiracy-theory-that-became-a-conspiracy-fact-the-cia-afghanistans-poppy-fields-and-americas-growing-heroin-epidemic/5533673

=============================================
=============================================

Joe Rogan on opium from Afghanistan

fj5BEa-IJUY
Published on 26 Apr 2017
Joe Rogan Experience
Episode #950
Joe Rogan and Abby Martin talks about opium coming from Afghanistan
and drug trafficking in America. Also goes into carfentanyl and heroin

[Cidersomerset]

Donald Trump commits more US troops to Afghanistan and calls on
Nato allies such as Britain to follow suit

By Andrew Cheetham on 22 August 2017 GMT


THE TELEGRAPH...

Trump commits more US troops to Afghanistan and calls on Britain to
follow suit

By Barney Henderson, New York and
Kate McCann, Senior Political Correspondent
22 August 2017 • 6:54am

Donald Trump has vowed to win the war in Afghanistan by committing
more US troops as he called on Nato allies such as Britain to increase
troop numbers "in line with our own".

more..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/21/donald-trump-address-nation-outline-new-afghanistan-strategy/

===========================================

Trump eyeing stake in Afghanistan’s $3 trillion natural resources

http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/08/21/532424/US-Trump-Afghanistan-wealth-natural-resources

===================================================

Military-led nation building no more: Trump announces strategy change

4uzwtkU0ba4

Published on 21 Aug 2017
Donald Trump says restrictions on fighting terrorists in Afghanistan have been
lifted, and the US is no longer focused on nation-building, in a speech unveiling a
new strategy for the country. Richard Becker from the anti-war Answer Coalition
comments President's statement. READ MORE: https://on.rt.com/8kzu

[uzn]

This has to do with Opium, not so much Afganistan. But it fits here well.
Since North Korea is also producing Opium, that could be at the heart of the tentions between USA and North Korea.

North Korea Is a Large Opium Producer Just Like Afghanistan — But That’s None of Your Business

Prior to the U.S. invasion and occupation that sent production and cultivation skyrocketing 35-fold in just the first 13 years, the Taliban had successfully decimated the opium poppy crop in Afghanistan.
Nearly 16 years later, Afghanistan’s lucrative drug trafficking business is still roaring along unhindered, and — with U.S. troops literally guarding the occupied nation’s 90-percent share of the world’s opium supply — potential competitors rightly seemed scarce.
That is, until North Korea just said ‘no’ to the Drug War.
“In its early stage, the Kim Jong-un regime declared a war against drugs, getting rid of poppy fields,” Kang Cheol-hwan, president of the defector organization, North Korea Strategy Center, told Yonhap News Agency last month. “But now they are cultivating them again.”


More Info on that:
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/norht-korea-opium-trade-afghanistan/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-10/north-korea-major-opium-producer-making-it-prime-target-cia
http://thedailymatrix.com/north-korea-cia-opium-heroin-nuclear-ww3-invasion/

[Cidersomerset]

NATO-CIA-Pentagon: Junction of the Real Druglords & Warlords

By Andrew Cheetham on 23 August 2017 GMT Middle East News, War and Terror


NEWSBUD.....
Sibel Edmonds | August 21, 2017 2 Comments

https://www.newsbud.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/082017_SEPost1.png

The Casualties of CIA-NATO Afghan Operations Include Heroin-Related Deaths

Are you aware of the heroin epidemic that has been on fire all across America- since
2001? Thanks to the government-corporate media outlets you probably are not.
Between 2002 and 2013, heroin-related overdose deaths in the US quadrupled, with
more than 10,000 people dying of heroin overdoses in America in 2014 alone.
Afghanistan has been the number one source globally of both opium and heroin:
Heroin from Afghanistan has killed more people than the 55,000 Americans killed in
the Vietnam War. An American now gets killed every 32 minutes by Afghan heroin.
with US heroin deaths tripling every four years, an American will get killed by heroin
every 16 minutes by 2020.

There were 189,000 heroin users in the US in 2001, before the US-NATO invasion of
Afghanistan. By 2016 that number went up to 4,500,000 (2.5 million heroin addicts
and 2 million casual users).Heroin deaths shot up from 1,779 in 2001 to 10,574 in
2014 as Afghan opium poppy fields metastasized from 7,600 hectares in 2001 (when
the US-NATO War in Afghanistan began) to 224,000 hectares in 2016. (One hectare
equals approximately 2.5 acres). Ironically, the so-called US eradication operation in
Afghanistan has cost an estimated $8.5 billion in American taxpayer funds since the
US-NATO-Afghan war started in October 2001.Interestingly, while the mainstream
and pseudo-alternative media outlets keep playing up drugs from Mexico, we hardly
hear a peep on the massive amount of Afghan-sourced heroin. To put it in perspective:
In 2014, according to the DEA drug threat assessment, Mexico produced an estimated
42 metric tons of heroin. Afghanistan produced 6,400 metric tons of opium that same
year. The largest share of US heroin is Afghanistan-sourced. It is coming from US
-occupied Afghanistan. There is no other mathematical possibility:

Mexico with 10,500 hectares of opium could not possibly supply even 1/20th of the
heroin demand in the US. What has the DEA been doing about the vast majority of
heroin which is coming in from Afghanistan? Looking at facts and figures regarding
the heroin epidemic, it becomes obvious that the DEA has been a colossal failure and
they refuse to answer most questions asked of them. Perhaps, the DEA would answer
questions (or plead the 5th) at Congressional Hearings.First, ‘the Mexicans did it”
which is to say that the 173 tons of raw opium from Latin America (from 10,500
hectares in Mexico and 1,500 hectares in Colombia) were converted into 17.3 tons of
heroin and all 17.3 tons were imported into the US, where it would not supply even
5% of the US heroin demand.If all countries on Earth growing opium, except
Afghanistan, were to convert their opium to heroin and send it to the US, it wouldn’t
be enough for even half of the current US heroin demand.

With the obvious parallels and undeniable correlations, any critical mind would begin
spewing the following questions: How did Afghan opium spread from 7,600 hectares
prior to the US-NATO invasion to 224,000 hectares since the invasion? What is the
correlation between US heroin deaths rising from 1,779 in 2000-pre Afghan invasion,
to more than 10,000 in 2014 alone?

‘Forty years ago the United States was hit by another major heroin epidemic. During
the 1970’s, during the Vietnam War, heroin making its way to the United States from
the Golden Triangle became an epidemic. It was estimated that more than 200,000
people in New York City alone were using heroin. At one point in time, you were able
to find used syringes on public playgrounds. As in the case of Afghanistan, the
CIA-Pentagon WarLords-DrugLords were at the top of the chain:

In the 1960s and early 1970s, the CIA recruited the Laotian Hmong tribe to fight
communist forces in the region. The CIA encouraged the Hmong to grow opium
instead of rice to make them dependent on CIA air drops of food. The agency could
then force their compliance by threatening to withdraw the food aid. To make the
deal even sweeter, they even located a heroin refinery at CIA headquarters in
northern Loas and used Air America, a passenger and cargo airline that was covertly
owned and operated by the CIA, to export the Laotian opium and heroin. Much of it
ended up in Vietnam, causing an epidemic of heroin addiction in US soldiers.’

Read more: NATO-CIA-Pentagon: Junction of the Real Druglords & Warlords

https://www.newsbud.com/2017/08/21/newsbud-exclusive-nato-cia-pentagon-junction-of-the-real-druglords-warlords_/

[Cidersomerset]

A post from another thread posted her for ref....

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?100318-The-Qanon-posts-and-a---Very-Bad-Day---Scenario-for-some-elite-swamp-critters--Nov-2017-and-beyond-&p=1228661&viewfull=1#post1228661



I have a bit of a disagreement with not only Praying Medic, but several of
the media outlets that are reporting that an Iranian judicial official has admitted to
Iran facilitating passage of al Qaeda's 9/11 hijack attackers.

I saw that Turiya and there is nothing there , I looked around earlier and found a
couple of articles and was waiting to see if anyone picked it up like Info Wars. Iran
borders several countries and there is a lot of drug smuggling going on especially
with Afghanistan. Iran also has nuclear armed neighbours with Pakistan , India ,
Russia , China and Israel all regional powers and the US capable of nuking Tehran....

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/middle-east/iran/map_of_iran.jpg
https://sc.cnbcfm.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/files/2017/03/24/afghanistan-map-2.png

Afghan Opium Harvesting Protected by British & American Occupation Forces // 2014 the largest Opium crop in History
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?84791-Afghan-Opium-Harvesting-Protected-by-British-American-Occupation-Forces-2014-the-largest-Opium-crop-in-History.

====================================================
====================================================

Afghanistan is a victim of 9/11 not a conspirator and Americas longest war is not
going well....Its un winnable and a throwback when the US supported the
Mujaheddin against the Soviets who were there to protect the legitimate Afghan
government . Just as the US is supporting the legitimate government today.

Rambo 3 when the CIA were arming the Mujihadeen rebels and were the good
guys its is confusing to work out who's who but the mil ind complex and drug
trade has done well out of Afghans misery over the last 40 years....


https://dfphotography.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/rambo-iii-4.jpg
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/rambo/images/4/4c/Ramboiii45.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/316?cb=20130325045149
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagenes_sociopol/waronterror57_03.jpg
http://rambo.wikia.com/wiki/Mujahideen
====================================================
https://static.bbc.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.22.55/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Afghan Taliban agree three-day ceasefire - their first

9 June 2018

vid on link ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk3ZN7YXUro
The BBC was given rare access to see life under the Taliban in 2017

The Taliban have announced a three-day ceasefire with Afghan government forces
coinciding with Eid later this month, days after a unilateral ceasefire was ordered by
the government.It is the Taliban's first ceasefire since the government they ran was
toppled by the 2001 US-led invasion.The Taliban said it would stop all offensive
operations during the holiday, except against foreign forces.

Earlier, Taliban fighters killed dozens of Afghan security force members.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the Taliban move was an opportunity for the
militants to realise "their violent campaign" was "not winning them hearts and
minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause".

Read more....
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/2168/production/_99825580_taliban_in_afganistan_976_v2-nc.png
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44423032

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taliban 'threaten 70% of Afghanistan' BBC investigation finds - BBC News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh0Bg96gTRQ
Published on 31 Jan 2018
The Afghan Taliban, which US-led forces spent billions of dollars trying to defeat,
are now openly active in 70% of the country, a BBC study has found. The BBC's
Auliya Atrafi travelled to Helmand Province, where they are most active.

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https://static.bbc.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.22.55/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Counting the cost of Trump's air war in Afghanistan

By Kevin Ponniah
BBC News7 June 2018

An air strike by the Afghan Air Force on 2 April killed 30 children, a UN investigation
found The helicopters arrived shortly after midday and sent a rocket hurtling into
an area at the back of the crowd where children were sitting.As people began to
flee, witnesses said, heavy machine gun fire followed them. It was the latest deadly
example of how a ferocious new air campaign against the Taliban has caused a
spike in civilian casualties from US and Afghan air operations.

read more....
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/15CFA/production/_101783398_chart-afghan_total-fso4i-nc-2.png
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44282098


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I might of got a bit carried away with the above post but it is all connected to the
Neo-con/Dem new American century agenda spawned after the end of the cold war
to keep regional conflicts going etc......

Gen. Wesley Clark reveals 2001 plan to attack Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv87ekPeIuk
Published on 2 Feb 2017...( 2 mins )...
General Wesley Clark interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, 2007
(http://iakn.us/2kuNzyE). Wesley Clark is a retired 4-star U.S. army general,
former NATO Supreme Allied Commander (during the Kosovo War), West Point
valedictorian, Rhodes Scholar, and author. He spent 34 years in the U.S. Army and
received many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and the
Presidential Medal of Freedom. For a more extensive description, including Clark's
1991 meeting with Paul Wolfowitz, go to https://youtu.be/KtXA4DAl2W4

TRANSCRIPT:

CLARK: ...right after 9/11. About 10 days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon,
and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs
just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me,
and one of the generals called me in. He said, "Sir, you’ve got to come in and talk
to me a second." I said, "Well, you’re too busy." He said, "No, no." He says, "We’ve
made the decision we’re going to war with Iraq." This was on or about the 20th of
September. I said, "We’re going to war with Iraq? Why?" He said, "I don’t know."
He said, "I guess they don’t know what else to do." So I said, "Well, did they find
some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?" He said, "No, no." He
says, "There’s nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with
Iraq." He said, "I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists, but
we’ve got a good military, and we can take down governments." And he said, "I
guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail."

So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in
Afghanistan. I said, "Are we still going to war with Iraq?" And he said, "Oh, it’s
worse than that." He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And
he said, "I just got this down from upstairs" — meaning the secretary of defense’s
office — "today." And he said, "This is a memo that describes how we’re going to
take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon,
Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing

[Cidersomerset]

A radio show which you need access to the BBC I player so will probably not
be available for people outside the UK as you need a TV licence...

https://static.bbc.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.22.55/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Afghanistan's Opium Deluge
Business Daily ...23/6/18

The war-torn country's record harvest last year was enough to meet
almost twice the world's demand for heroin and other illicit opiate drugs.
Justin Rowlatt reports from Kabul and from rural Afghanistan, as he
explores where the opium is ending up, and what can be done about it.
Is the Taliban largely to blame, as the US military claims, or do the roots
of the opium poppy run broader and deeper than that?

Justin speaks to the commander of US forces General John Nicholson, the
deputy director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime Mark Calhoun, and the
government national security advisor Mohammad Hanif Atmar.

(Picture: Opium poppies; Credit: Javed Tanveer/AFP/Getty Images)

Add "Business Daily, Afghanistans Opium Deluge" to Favourites
Release date:
23 March 2018
Available now


https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csw84d

[Cidersomerset]

THE TELEGRAPH.....

'Unprecedented' surge in cheap, high-purity heroin expected from Afghanistan, UN warns

By Ben Farmer ....22 May 2018 • 3:57pm

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2018/05/22/TELEMMGLPICT000160766242_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqaRL1kC4G7DT9ZsZm6Pe3PehAFAI_f6ud569StXyOKH0.jpeg?
An Afghan farmer harvests opium sap from a poppy field in the Surkh Rod district of
Nangarhar province Credit: NOORULLAH SHIRZADA/ AFP

An unprecedented surge of high quality and low cost Afghan heroin is bound for the
world’s streets after the country’s opium crop jumped two thirds to record levels, the
United Nations has warned. Afghanistan’s farmers grew more than 1,250 square miles
of opium poppy last year, paving the way for potentially unseen levels of heroin production.

The bumper crop has the potential to make up to 900 tonnes of high purity, export quality
heroin the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime said.Afghan opium already provides more than
90 per cent of the world’s heroin and 95 per cent of that found on Britain’s streets.

The trade also finances militant groups such as the Taliban, forcing the UK to spend tens
of millions in the past 15 years trying to destroy poppy crops.But production in Helmand
province alone, the capital of opium growing where Britain spent eight years trying to wean
Afghans off the crop, has risen by 79 per cent in a single year

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2018/05/22/TELEMMGLPICT000161759874_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq-LJS7LKjeK9Zr8QxHnNHG4itpGhsZrUs3owZAjQ2uWw.jpeg?
An Afghan farmer walks along the poppy field on the outskirts Mazar-i-Sharif Credit: FARSHAD USYAN/AFP

“With the record high of production in 2017, a wave of high quality, low cost heroin is
expected to reach consumer markets across the world,” the UN warned.It said “unprecedented
amounts of heroin” will reach drug users “with increased consumption and related harms as a
likely consequence.”

Poor security and the Kabul government’s lack of control in swathes of the country were blamed
for the burgeoning trade.Opium now dwarfs all other sectors of the Afghan economy, despite a
17-year-long international aid campaign to try to rebuild the country after the Taliban regime
was toppled in 2001.The crop was worth up to £5bn, or nearly a third of the country’s entire GDP,
while legal exports are worth only around seven per cent. Many billions more are made further
down the drugs pipeline, as it is smuggled across the Middle East into Europe.

Impoverished farmers are now increasingly reliant on the crop, and it is now the backbone of
Afghan agriculture, making efforts to curb the trade harder.The UN said: “The 2017 record levels
of cultivation and production further show the dependency of Afghanistan’s rural economy on
opium cultivation.”Britain has scaled back in recent years on aid efforts designed to encourage
farmers to grow crops other than opium, but the National Crime Agency works with Afghan police
to try to catch traffickers or seize their wealth.

A Government spokesman said: “The UK supports the investigation and prosecution of narcotics
trafficking and associated money laundering. However this is only one strand of activity required
to deliver a sustainable reduction in the opiate threat emanating from Afghanistan.”

read more....https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/22/unprecedented-surge-cheap-high-purity-heroin-expected-afghanistan/

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UNODC - Crop Monitoring - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Last year's record opium production in Afghanistan threatens sustainable development,
latest survey reveals

21 May 2018 - In 2017, opium cultivation in Afghanistan reached a record high with
an estimated 328,000 hectares, up 63 per cent compared with 201,000 hectares in 2016.

According to the latest survey report released today by UNODC, last year's record levels
of production has led to unprecedented levels of potential heroin production. From the 2017
opium harvest, some 550-900 tons of heroin of export quality (purity between 50 and 70
per cent) can be produced.

read more....http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2018/May/last-years-record-opium-production-in-afghanistan-threatens-sustainable-development--latest-survey-reveals.html

UNODC and illicit crop monitoring

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crop-monitoring/index.html?tag=Afghanistan


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RUETERS....Environment

April 29, 2018 / 8:41 PM / a month ago

Afghan farmers stick to growing opium in the face of less lucrative options
Ismail Sameem...4 Min Read

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan farmers are busy in their poppy fields
as the annual opium harvest begins, underscoring the government’s failure to
stamp out a crop that yields much of the world’s supply of heroin.

Read More...
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-poppies-farmer/afghan-farmers-stick-to-growing-opium-in-the-face-of-less-lucrative-options-idUKKBN1I1067