Afghan War & Opium Addiction

in #afghanistan6 years ago (edited)

Is it really a coincidence that the heroin addiction in the US seems to coincide with the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan?
The Afghan War stands as America's longest war, and there does not seem to be any end game or plan for "winning' anything. The Taliban only seems to get stronger, and now other groups such as ISIS are also apparently setting up shop there.
What's worse is that opium production and heroin labs are a booming business in Afghanistan, with the jihadist groups making huge money on the trade. The Taliban government had been considered an "ally" of the US government, and that same Taliban had outlawed opium because they considered it to be "forbidden." But you see, that was before the Taliban needed any funds they could get in order to fight the US Coalition. Now the Taliban and other terror groups work with opium growers and heroin producers, because they need a cut of the profits in order to fund their insurgency against our troops who are sent there.
Opium production in Afghanistan went up over sixty-percent from 2016 through 2017. It seems that the US Coalition's stated mission of rubbing out opium production in Afghanistan has become an Epic Fail! (Much like just about anything the Bush Administration ever attempted).
Meanwhile, opioid addiction and deaths are worse than any other time in modern American history. The amount of Americans who have died from opioid overdoses has more than doubled over the past decade.
While the government insists that the War in Afghanistan is Goin' Good, it seems that the Taliban has survived and been thriving on the drug trade, which it uses to fund attacks on our kids who the government sends over there, in order to fight a war without a clear strategy (other than war profiteering). Also, more Americans are becoming addicted to, and are dying from opioid based products.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/8-times-americas-war-on-drugs-was-stranger-than-fiction

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2017/11/21/afghanistans-opium-production-is-through-the-roof-why-washington-shouldnt-overreact/

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/after-16-years-of-war-afghanistan-still-worlds-heroin-supplier/

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