Opium

U.S. Quietly Ends Anti-Opium Airstrikes Amid Taliban Peace Talks

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, amid ongoing peace negotiations with the Afghan Taliban, quietly ended an airstrike campaign against Taliban opium and heroin drug labs after failing to curtail the terrorist organization’s multi-million dollar trade, the Pentagon’s inspector general (IG) revealed this week.

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Watchdog: Afghans Turn to Heroin Production for Job Security

The historic production of opium and its heroin derivative in Afghanistan — with a record output value of up to $6.6 billion last year, or nearly a third of the country’s entire gross domestic product — appears to provide better prospects for job security than any other industry in the nation.

FILE -- In this April 21, 2014 file photo, Afghan farmers harvest opium, in Helmand provin

Watchdog: Taliban Replacing Bombed Heroin Labs in ‘Three to Four Days’

The Trump administration’s record numbers of airstrikes in Afghanistan have failed to expand the Afghan government’s control over its population and stop the Taliban from quickly replacing its opium and heroin processing labs pulverized by the U.S. military, a watchdog agency said in a report to Congress released Tuesday.

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