US Airstrikes Target Afghan Opium
The United States has launched its first counter-narcotics military offensive in partnership with local allies in Afghanistan to try to deprive the resurgent Taliban of its largest source of funding. The move follows years of criticism that international forces are not doing enough to curb the opium trade.
Speaking in Kabul, General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. troops and NATO’s military mission, shared details of the coalition's first overnight counter-narcotics airstrikes.
He said the bombing campaign destroyed major Taliban narcotics production facilities in Helmand, the main poppy producing southern Afghan province, depriving the insurgent group of major revenues.
“We hit the labs where they turn poppy into heroin. We hit their storage facilities where they keep their final product, where they stockpile their money and their command and control. Our estimates indicate that more than $200 million from this illegal economy was going into the pockets of the Taliban,” the general noted.
Afghan Chief of Army Staff General Sharif Yaftali welcomed the move against the Taliban, which he called "a criminal group" benefiting from the narcotics business.
The United Nations announced that narcotics production nearly doubled this year in Afghanistan to around 9,000 metric tons, showing a nearly 90 percent increase compared with 2016.
Critics have long blamed the booming Afghan narcotics industry for being a major cause of prolonged hostilities and deteriorating security conditions in the country.
The U.S. military estimates income generated from the illicit drugs is providing 60 percent of funds for the Taliban insurgency.
Under a new policy President Donald Trump unveiled in August, about 3,000 additional American troops have arrived in Afghanistan. The U.S. military has increased airstrikes against the Taliban as well as terrorists linked to the Afghan branch of Islamic State.
