US ditch opium flield eradication days before July1 offensive in poppy centre!

I was reading ABC news about some ghost town in Southern Afghanistan, that was supposed to be a new shining example of coalition rejuvenation.

The Army's $10M Afghan Flop

I decided to look at the pictures and one of the captions mentioned the US had recently reversed its stance on opium field eradication.

What?? I thought, this really had gone under my radar. I'm usually on the ball with stuff ike this.

So I Googled it to get some MSM perspective on it but guess what, 107 results - mostly blogs and less well know news outlets.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/24bd69af7f60.png[/atsimg] My Google Search

In fact I couldn't find any mention in the MSM about this.

Here are a few of the ones I did find:

US Makes "Historic Shift" in Counter-Narcotics Policy in Afghanistan: Move to End Poppy Crop Eradication Hailed as Monumental Step by ICOS

LONDON – The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) today hailed the monumental move by the US to stop the failed policy of poppy crop eradication in Afghanistan, and it called on the US, UK and the rest of the international community to back its Poppy for Medicine proposal in the war-torn country.

SHIFT IN U.S. DRUG POLICY FOR AFGHANISTAN HAILED AS POSITIVE NEWS

Associated Press reported several days ago that the U.S. announced a new drug policy for Afghanistan, declaring that it was phasing out funding for eradication programs while significantly increasing its funding for alternate crop and drug interdiction efforts.

The U.S. envoy for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, told The Associated Press on the weekend that eradication programs weren't working and were only driving farmers into the hands of the Taliban.

"Eradication is a waste of money," Holbrooke said to AP.

This prompted the The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS), formerly the Senlis Council, to issue this press release today:

The Ottowa Citizen site claimed that they got their info from a contact at the AP, however I cannot find the story on AP, and wouldn't it surely would come up on a Google search too? (AP Search)

Okay, no big deal really, just the policy of a few years being changed without major news coverage.

But this is where the fun begins.

These stories came out on 1st July 2009.

Let me give you some stories from 2nd July 2009

US opens 'major Afghan offensive'

And:

US troops start major offensive in Afghanistan

Dubbed Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," the military push was described by officials as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's new phase, involving nearly 4,000 of the newly-arrived Marines and 650 Afghan forces. British forces last week led similar, but smaller, missions to fight and clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar provinces.


The Pentagon is deploying 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in time for the elections and expects the total number of US forces there to reach 68,000 by the end of the year. That is double the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2008.

I'll draw you attention to this sentence:

to fight and clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar provinces.

These two provinces specifically, take a look at this:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9a6eb08656e0.jpg[/atsimg](You can see Helmund and Kandahar are the regions in orange down the bottom, with the huge increases in opium production for 2007)

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fb1cb4822b88.png[/atsimg]

So let's get this right.

The day after a poorly reported major policy change on Opium field eradication is announced, the US and UK undertake a huge military offensive. Oh yeah, in the two provinces that have the largest opium growth per hectare and among the largest increases in Opium growth in Afghanistan.

Now those figures are from 2007 but the reports say the policy has failed so we must assume the current numbers must be similar.

Oh and the reason for this policy change, other than the old one wasn't working involves the 'Poppy for Medicine Proposal'.

The Council called on the US to implement its proposed Poppy for Medicine programme to license the growing of the poppy crop in Afghanistan for localised, tightly controlled production of morphine, currently unavailable to 80% of the world’s population.

That's right folks, the US wants to take all those poppys used for making heroine, and use them instead to make morphine. Now obviously they'll be able to control where the opium goes, making sure none of it ends up AS heroin....of course.

So essentially, they've turned the opium field from a criminal entity to a commodity without letting the MSM know, they've done it without the approval of their allies:

After the US announcement, the UK government spoke out against the new stance by the US and vowed to continue its own eradication efforts.

They did it very quietly, before unleashing a masive offensive to secure this cash crop.

God Bless America. (I'd put UK too but it doesn't have the same ring to it!)




[edit on 30-7-2009 by kiwifoot]

[edit on 1-8-2009 by Skyfloating]

Sounds like a treaty with some local warlords to get their support.

US: Help us fight the Taliban, and we will stop killing your poppies!

Warlord: Interesting, but we still need a market to sell them openly.

US: Fine, we will encourage their use in our Pharm sector, this is going to take some fancy negotiating back home.

Warlord: Fine, here are the current locations and 600 men. We will talk more in a couple of weeks!

I have to 'hand it' to the guys in charge of this crap. They are absolute geniuses. How else could they keep all of this straight? How else could they develop such intricate schemes?

Thanks for this one Kiwi. Yet another reason to be really proud of our involvement in the killing of people in Afghanistan.

Legalisation of the illegal drugs sounds like some grotesque, dark political fiction...Ihope Batman will show up in time and kick a few derieres

hmmmmm....

nice work. You could actually be onto something worthwhile here.

I posted a link to some of this a while back, we even had the cajones to get angry with Britain for still trying to destroy the poppy fields. Richard Holbrooke told them it was a waste of money... LOL you betcha. More money than we know. Thanks for bringing this thread!

From My "Debunk This Video Thread"
Found this article in the news today thought it would be an interesting addition, apparently we have no intentions of eradicating the Opium production in Afghanistan, and seem to raise objections to other countries plans to do so. After watching the video this thread presents, it's a small wonder...

Source
Britain to continue poppy eradication in Afghanistan despite US reversal

Britain will continue to fund the destruction of opium fields in Afghanistan despite the United States condemning poppy eradication as a waste of money.

The British Government said destroying poppy fields remained a key deterrent to growers and one of the "seven pillars" of its anti-opium strategy in Helmand province, just a day after Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan, said that destroying the crop only drove poor farmers to join the insurgency....

You should check out the video that thread is talking about, the narco-corruption goes all the way back to JFK... Flight Schools, Barry Seal, all of that nasty stuff.

[edit on 30-7-2009 by oneclickaway]
Edited as that link won't work
There's masses about all this if you look though

[edit on 30-7-2009 by oneclickaway]

Interesting, nice sleuthing!

So... Just how accessible will this new, legalized 'medicine' be?

I like Getreadyalready's scene.

A spin on his/her scene:

US: Fine, we will encourage their use in our Pharm sector, this is going to take some fancy negotiating back home.

Warlord: Okay, I'll give you 2200 troops and current/future locations if our opium will be sold in stores.

US:No, prescription only.

Warlord: ....

Warlord: Fine, here are the current locations and 600 men. We will talk more in a couple of weeks!

[edit on 30-7-2009 by star in a jar]

reply to post by twitchy


Thanks for the link to your thread, that Telegraph story is seriously one of the very few in the MSM about this.

It completely missed me by, the BBC and other News outlets seriously didn't report it, and if they did they dropped it very quickly.

Great video too, this is confirmation of sticky fingers by the west in the Drugs Trade, wew all know it, stories like this just confirm it!

Thanks again.

Originally posted by star in a jar
Interesting, nice sleuthing!

So... Just how accessible will this new, legalized 'medicine' be?

I like Getreadyalready's scene.

A spin on his/her scene:

US: Fine, we will encourage their use in our Pharm sector, this is going to take some fancy negotiating back home.

Warlord: Okay, I'll give you 2200 troops and current/future locations if our opium will be sold in stores.

US:No, prescription only.

Warlord: ....

Warlord: Fine, here are the current locations and 600 men. We will talk more in a couple of weeks!

[edit on 30-7-2009 by star in a jar]

You could just be right, in fact the UK troops have been hit a lot harder than the US ones.

I wonder why?

Maybe they haven't made a pact with opium warlords.

interesting findings.

i found this article from 2002, it seems that they have been selling us this crap that they are spraying the poppy fields but they have been allowing it since 2002..

Thursday, March 28, 2002
The Bush administration has decided not to destroy the opium crop in Afghanistan. President Bush, who previously linked the Afghan drug trade directly to terrorism, has now decided not to destroy the Afghan opium crop.

"The war in Afghanistan will be decided within the next six weeks based on whether or not the poppy crops go to market," stated a U.S. intelligence official who recently returned from Afghanistan.

The source, who requested that he not be identified, noted that the opium poppy fields are blooming and ready for harvest. U.S. forces could destroy the crops using aerial spraying techniques, but no such actions are planned.

"If the estimated 3,000 tons of opium reaches market, it will lead to a new upsurge in international terrorism and a great loss in international credibility for the Bush administration and the United States' ability to conduct war in the 21st century.

archive.newsmax.com...

edit: forgot how to use the computer...
[edit on 30-7-2009 by turbokid]

[edit on 30-7-2009 by turbokid]

reply to post by turbokid


Yes mate, from the very beginning they've been planning to use this cash crop for themselves.

There is a lot of info on the CIA's involvement in the illegal drugs trade, espeially when Bush Snr was in the CIA. Bush Jnr didn't let the old man down did he??

This is so blatant though they really don't care anymore do they?

The subtle reversal of the US policy on opium fields is not he only policy shift regarding Iraq of late.

As noted in this thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

U.S.: No more enemy body counts in Afghanistan


Very interesting, they decide not to go after the opium fields, nor keep a record of enemy combatants.

The plot thickens!

IMHO I have Always thought the US was in Afgan just to secure our opium investments.... And war with the Taliban is just a war between drug lords.

reply to post by Topsy_Cret


I used to think that, but was just a paranoid feeling, when I see this though, the speed of the offensive so soon after the policy change, and in those specific areas, it's too much of a coicidence not to be true!

First the US ditched poppy field eradication, now I see the same on the horizon for UK forces after the latest MPs' report:

Findings of MPs' Afghanistan report

DRUGS

The report described the UK's counter-narcotics role as a "poisoned chalice" and said it was "highly unlikely" that targets to wean Afghanistan off its reliance on drugs money would be achieved soon.

Despite the UK spending nearly £160m between 2004 and 2008, cultivation of opium poppies is thought to have tripled in Helmand, while the UN estimated insurgent militias took in $100m (£60m) in tax and protection money from drugs farmers last year alone.

"It is clear that despite the commendable efforts of the Foreign Office in adopting a broad-ranging, holistic approach to tackling narcotics in Afghanistan, success in that area depends on a range of factors which lie far beyond the control and resource of the UK alone," said Mr Gapes.

The report recommended the Afghan government should in future be partnered in its counter-narcotics efforts by the UN and Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), which were more able to co-ordinate international efforts on the issue.

It looks like the UK is trying to get out of this with a bit of honour, or amybe they don't want to burn up fields of poppys that the US government will make money from.

Is it possible the US has leaned on the UK to stop drug missions?

Just hope all that opium is worth it:


Seven British, U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - NATO's new chief called Friday for additional reinforcements in Afghanistan, and the alliance announced the deaths of eight more U.S. and British troops as violence worsens in the eight-year-old war's deadliest phase.

In neighboring Pakistan, officials said they believed that country's Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, had been killed in a missile strike, a major coup in the fight against the militant movement which has roots in tribes on both sides of the border.

But an Afghan Taliban spokesman said Mehsud's death would have no effect on its fight on the Afghan side of the frontier, because the organizations are not directly linked.

Those people who decided on this offensive to grab the opium fields are evil evil souls.

The plot thickens, first they reverse their stance on opium fileds, then they attempt to secure the poppy growing region.

Now this:

US to target 'Afghan drug lords'

The US has put 50 Afghans suspected to be drug traffickers with Taliban links on a list of people to be "captured or killed", the New York Times reports.

Two American generals have told the US Congress that the policy is legal under the military's rules of engagement and international law, the paper says.

In a report, yet to be released, it was described as a key strategy to disrupt the flow of drug money to the Taliban.

The move is a major shift in America's counter-narcotics drive in Afghanistan.

In interviews with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is due to release the report later this week, two American generals serving in Afghanistan said that major traffickers with proven links to the insurgency have been put on the "joint integrated prioritised target list", the New York Times reported.

That means they have been given the same target status as insurgent leaders, and can be captured or killed at any time.

It quoted one of the generals as telling the committee: "We have a list of 367 'kill or capture' targets, including 50 nexus targets who link drugs and the insurgency."

The generals were not identified in the Senate report, the paper said.

Poppy destruction

For many years, US policy in Afghanistan had focused on destroying poppy crops.

But in March Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to the region, said that US efforts to eradicate opium poppy crops in Afghanistan have been "wasteful and ineffective".

He said efforts to eradicate poppy cultivation had failed to make an impact on the Taliban insurgents' ability to raise money from the drugs trade.

The southern Afghan province of Helmand is the main producer of Afghan opium, which accounts for more than 90% of the global supply.

At least they are admitting it now, what thay fail to mention is the new 'Morphine for Hospitals' policy, basicall, they want to use all the fileds taken off these drug lords to make money out of it. Classic smash and grab!

S&F for you!

THIS IS WHY I BOTHER WITH ATS.

All the utter nonsense, all the crappy partisan BS, all the ludicrous stuff about whether a healthcare system is a good thing (answer, yes, but not when arranged by such a hopelessly corrupt political system as in the US)...

It's threads like this that make it all worth while.

When the US was ramping up its propaganda campaign to make invading another tiny defenceless country (Afghanistan) acceptable, I remember coming across two stories on the same day. One referred to a UN report that said the Taliban had almost eradicated opium production: the other was a report by the US government claiming the Taliban were heavily involved in the drug trade.

Hmmm... which to believe? I went for the UN report because, first, it seemed to me that the Taliban, being fundamentalist Muslims, would be likely to be against narcotic use; second, the US had a clear reason to lie about it.

No surprises that after a few months of US/UK occupation, the news was that opium production had recovered nicely, thanks.

Then a US official (possibly the ambassador to Britain) warned that the UK would soon be inundated with cheap heroin from Afghanistan.

I could only wonder which of the many US air bases here they'd be flying it into.

And of course, a few months later still we had stories about cheap heroin in our schools.

So it's nice to be informed of how the saga continues. Great thread!