Major Gunbattles Erupt in Afghan Assault

Taliban Sniper Teams Attack U.S., Afghan Troops

www.foxnews.com

MARJAH, Afghanistan — Sniper teams attacked U.S. Marines and Afghan troops across the Taliban haven of Marjah, as several gun battles erupted Monday on the third day of a major offensive to seize the extremists' southern heartland

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[edit on 2/15/2010 by l neXus l]

it looks like things have heated up again in Afghanistan, a 15,000 troop offense is pretty darn big, and i seems that they are making some progress which is good, it seems that things have tapered off a bit since the initial fight, but what worries me is when two rockets smashed into that home killing 12 civilians, the rockets were 600 meters off their mark, which to me seems a little much, seeing how we can hit anything on the head of a needle these days, so not sure if it was miscalculated or if it was on purpose, but it has had a negative effect for NATO who was trying to win over the civilians
im going to be keeping my eye out for any more flare ups over the next couple of days

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

What I find surprising is that this town of Marjah is the #1 largest Heroin processing region in all of Afghanistan. From Marjah it is smuggled out through certain passageways accompanied by armed Taliban guards that lead to the Iranian border (I'm sure a fair amount enters Pakistan as well, but the real money maker is the western markets). From Iran it is smuggled into Turkey, which is the gate to the Western world if you will; from Iran and Turkey it can be easily smuggled into Russia and former Soviet states via the Caspian Sea which is used exclusively by the Iranians and Russians.

The heroin that is smuggled to Turkey easily finds its way into Eastern European nations and from there, once within EU borders, it can easily be smuggled into any and all EU nations. This is because most if not all EU borders do not have checkpoints, and if you are a citizen of one EU country you are allowed to travel unrestricted to them all, much like if you are a citizen of one US state you can travel unrestricted to them all. Think of EU countries like you would US states, and think of the EU the way you'd think of the USA, in regards to how the land and borders are organized and function.

From Western EU member countries it is smuggled by sea across the Atlantic Ocean to the USA and the Carribean Islands. Major port cities along the East Coast of the USA are the primary ports that receive the illicit heroin. Some of these are New York City, Boston, New Jersey, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and even southward into Virginia ports and others. I live in Virginia and there was a recent major heroin bust over the holidays, it was being smuggled from New York harbors to the harbors in our relatively small (in comparison) cities near Colonial Williamsburg and Norfolk Naval Base.

So I have absolutely no sympathy for these Afghanis who are crying over the fact that they wont have any livelihood or money to feed their families once NATO takes over Marjah. Our people shouldn't have to die, spread fatal disease, and get wrapped up in felony legal cases, ultimately ending up incarcerated, just so Afghani farmers can eat. They need to grow their own damn food; they sure know how to grow poppy, and they know how to grow lots of it and harvest all of it, so surely they would know how to grow and harvest food crops.. even if the food crops are for their own family, it is guaranteed food. But this is going off subject, I am beginning to rant. Just know that heroin is a weapon being used by Muslims in the East against the Western World. Why do you think the Taliban protects them and guards their smugglers? Besides receiving some of the profits, of course. It is chemical weapons on a whole new level.

Supposedly there are more heroin labs in Marjah than in Musa Qala, which NATO routed in 2007 or 2008. That town had 300 labs. So Marjah must have close to 1,000 processing labs. And who works in these labs? The local civilian population of Marjah! I read an article where one worker was interviewed and said that he makes $10 a day in cash for working at a processing lab. He claimed this was better pay than any other job available to the people of Afghanistan. My point is simple: Why would these civilians cooperate with NATO instead of the Taliban, when the Taliban has been protecting their trade and assisting them in smuggling? They didnt start making heroin when the Taliban showed up, they've been doing this for quite some time. When the Taliban showed up, they reached agreements with the civilian leaders that the civilians would pay tax to the Taliban for protection of their drug operations. So the civilians of Marjah are just as guilty as the actual Taliban fighters themselves.

There's no doubt NATO will take over the town. The real question is, will the people of Marjah let their heroin trade go quietly, or will they join up with Taliban guerrillas and relentless fight against the NATO forces for the entire duration of their occupation of the town. They'd do this with regular suicide bombers, regular IED's, and even small arms ambushes.

I just dont see this working out. The only thing harder than curing the world's heroin addicts of their addiction is curing the world's SUPPLIERS of the heroin that keeps them addicted. That is where the big money is.

On the Conspiracy side of things; I've heard many reports of CIA smuggling heroin out of Afghanistan themselves, for use in covert operations against their own people, or the people of other countries. If this is true, one has to wonder if the production of heroin will remain intact after Marjah is taken by NATO, and if the heroin will be smuggled out by CIA instead of Taliban. One drug syndicate taking over another drug syndicate's turf .. sounds about right?

Hasn't opium/heroin production skyrocketed since the US invaded? I was under the impression that the Taliban was against opium farming. Does any one have any facts supporting this?

reply to post by jrod


Jeah, they are there now because the Taliban are interfering with CIA heroine smuggling.

[edit on 15-2-2010 by Point of No Return]

Smuggled? Oh my. Between the powers, it's not being smuggled. It's how they tax their own people an extra tax and at the same time pacifying and exhausting them...