DISINFO: The US created a drug laboratory on a global scale in Afghanistan
SUMMARY
Instead of fighting drug trafficking during two decades of political-military control of Afghanistan, the US launched a project to create a drug laboratory on a global scale.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory not backed by any evidence, aiming to stoke anti-American feelings.
While it is true that US-led opium eradicated programs in Afghanistan have been a failure and that drug production increased more than four-fold since the 2001 invasion, no serious observer has suggested that the US intentionally promoted its growth as stated in this disinformation story. In fact, drug trafficking has 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, from poppy eradication to airstrikes and raids on suspected labs. Therefore, the claim that the US purposefully fostered drug production defies all logic.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that the US seeded chaos in Afghanistan to undermine China and Russia, that the US generated and backed Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Taliban, or that US intelligence was involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activities in Afghanistan.