DISINFO: The US launched war in Afghanistan in order to guarantee US control over drug trafficking routes
SUMMARY
In 2001 there was a severe scarcity of heroin in the global drug market because the Taliban had suppressed poppy cultivation. The US launched a war in Afghanistan in order to restore drug trafficking to its previous levels and guarantee US control over drug trafficking routes. The US had to resume the economic war against Iran, Russia and China. The war in Afghanistan was the CIA’s vengeance against the Taliban.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that aims to discredit the US presence and intervention in Afghanistan by inventing the claim alleging that the US and the CIA are involved in illicit drug trafficking operations in Afghanistan.
First of all, it is not true that the US intervened in Afghanistan in October 2001 in order to “control drug trafficking routes” or “increase levels of drug trafficking”. US military intervention in Afghanistan was a response to the multiple September 11 terrorist attacks in America, carried out by Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organisation of which Osama Bin Laden, based in Afghanistan, was the leader. On 7 October 2001, the US military, with the support of the British military, and others later, launched a campaign, named Operation Enduring Freedom, against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
Furthermore, it is not true, as the article suggests, that the US government and US intelligence were or are involved in drug trafficking operations in Afghanistan. On the contrary US government agencies - including the military, law enforcement and intelligence communities - have conducted major counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan since 2002.
U.S. counternarcotics programs and policies over the past 16 years have included efforts to develop Afghanistan’s licit economy, build Afghan government counterdrug capacity, and deter farmers and traffickers from participating in the cultivation and trade of opium.
Drug cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan have been one of the main income sources for the Taliban insurgency, which seriously weakened international stabilisation efforts. For this reason, the US spent over 15 billion dollars over 15 years on efforts to deprive the Taliban of their profits from Afghanistan's opium and heroin trade, conducting counternarcotics operations from poppy eradication to airstrikes and raids on suspected labs.
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