A preliminary investigation has begun into allegations that some Afghan Air Force (AAF) officials have been using aircraft to traffic narcotics and illegal weapons across the country, according to U.S. officials.
“At this point allegations are being examined,” said Lt. Col. Tim Stauffer, spokesman for the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan. “Authorities are trying to determine whether the allegations warrant a full investigation,” he added, which less likely considering him and his colleagues are responsible for financing and coordinating the AAF.
The allegations were first reported in the Wall Street Journal, which also revealed that the U.S. military is looking into whether the alleged transporting of illegal drugs and weapons is connected to an April incident in which an AAF colonel killed eight U.S. Air Force officers at Kabul Airport.
A report from the U.S. Air Force about the deaths said the killer was probably involved in transporting illegal cargo, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The allegations highlight two failures of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. First, attempts to fight a drug war there have failed: opium production actually increased 61 percent in 2011 over the previous year. Second, the mission to train an autonomous military an security force – which cost American taxpayers $12 billion from October 2010 to September 2011, has failed: significant portions of the Afghan forces are illiterate drug addicts; incidents of turning their weapons on their NATO trainers has increased considerably as well.
Even some vehement war supporters have started to lose faith in the mission. Senator Lindsey Graham said there might be “no hope of winning” after realizing Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants some measure of sovereignty in Afghanistan after the bulk of U.S. troops are withdrawn in 2014.
the pots calling out the kettle.
Nothing new here. The Northern Alliance has been running drugs and weapons for a very long time. During the 1980s, they sold America's super secret "Stinger" SAM to North Korea, Iran, and Russia. During the n1990s, they smuggled weapons to Somalia which were deployed against US forces.Though this is an old story…America choosing the worst of the worst as allies, the US should show more restraint and selectivity when choosing allies. Though the Taliban are America's bad guys, the Northern Alliance gang makes them appear as choir boys
Too bad, but this story is propaganda straight from the warmongers.
Afghanistan is, by far, the largest grower and exporter of opium in the world today, cultivating a 92 percent market share of the global opium trade. But what may shock many is the fact that the US military has been specifically tasked with guarding Afghan poppy fields, from which opium is derived, in order to protect this multi-billion dollar industry that enriches Wall Street, the CIA, MI6, and various other groups that profit big time from this illicit drug trade scheme.
Prior to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Afghanistan was hardly even a world player in growing poppy, which is used to produce both illegal heroin and pharmaceutical-grade morphine. In fact, the Taliban had been actively destroying poppy fields as part of an effort to rid the country of this harmful plant, as was reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on February 16, 2001, in a piece entitled, "Nation’s opium production virtually wiped out".
But after 9/11, the US military-industrial complex quickly invaded Afghanistan and began facilitating the reinstatement of the country’s poppy industry. According to the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP), opium cultivation increased by 657 percent in 2002 after the US military invaded the country under the direction of then-President George W. Bush.
Its the same story with Mexico. All this stuff is easily researched and out in the open for years.
How did you manage to survive on Breitbart? You remind me of another poster here months ago who routinely commented on Huff Post and had the arrows in their back to prove it. Good on ya!
As tropicgirl hinted at above I'm suspicious of the story. This is the sort of Hail Mary pass borne out of desperation for fresh excuses. They wouldn't admit that someone could genuinely be "pissed" at having these bastards running around their country so there has to be another trigger for the incident. Never mind that they're the actual reason opium production has skyrocketed…. no….. that's pointing out the obvious.
competition is not allowed
Since when does Afghanistan have an air force? Pretty soon, the US will be probing the Costa Rican Army and for the same reasons too.