U.S. Airstrikes in Afghanistan Take Aim at Taliban Opium Labs
- 6 years ago
U.S. Airstrikes in Afghanistan Take Aim at Taliban Opium Labs
20, 2017
WASHINGTON — American and Afghan warplanes conducted a series of strikes on Sunday night at what American officials said were Taliban
drug depots, as part of what is expected to be a sustained campaign targeting the group’s $200 million-a-year opium trade.
Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., the commander of the United States operations in Afghanistan, said
that B-52 bombers and F-22 warplanes took part in the strikes, the first such attacks under new authorities granted by President Trump to officials conducting the war in Afghanistan.
Taliban said that These criminals living in Afghanistan who are closely linked to the Taliban are responsible for 85 percent of the world’s opium.
But since they were toppled in 2001, and later became an insurgent group, mounting a war against the Afghanistan government
and its American sponsors, the Taliban have increasingly come to depend on the opium trade for funds.
The increase in processing means that the Taliban have been able to take a greater share of the $60 billion
that the global trade in the Afghan opium crop is estimated to be worth.
"Heroin’s become a global issue," General Nicholson told reporters on Monday during a teleconference news briefing from Afghanistan.
20, 2017
WASHINGTON — American and Afghan warplanes conducted a series of strikes on Sunday night at what American officials said were Taliban
drug depots, as part of what is expected to be a sustained campaign targeting the group’s $200 million-a-year opium trade.
Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., the commander of the United States operations in Afghanistan, said
that B-52 bombers and F-22 warplanes took part in the strikes, the first such attacks under new authorities granted by President Trump to officials conducting the war in Afghanistan.
Taliban said that These criminals living in Afghanistan who are closely linked to the Taliban are responsible for 85 percent of the world’s opium.
But since they were toppled in 2001, and later became an insurgent group, mounting a war against the Afghanistan government
and its American sponsors, the Taliban have increasingly come to depend on the opium trade for funds.
The increase in processing means that the Taliban have been able to take a greater share of the $60 billion
that the global trade in the Afghan opium crop is estimated to be worth.
"Heroin’s become a global issue," General Nicholson told reporters on Monday during a teleconference news briefing from Afghanistan.