While there have been persistent reports over the past few weeks that
President Trump has ordered a drawdown from Afghanistan of either 5,000
or 7,000 US troops, the Pentagon has said they don’t know anything about it. The National Security Council’s spokesman suggests the Pentagon brass was telling the truth.
Officials say that President Trump has made no determination on Afghanistan troop levels going forward, and has made no orders to the Pentagon to start making preparations for any withdrawals.
Media reports on the Afghan War have suggested that President Trump was
growing weary of the lack of success since at least summer, and public
statements from Afghan commanders defending the war were seen as an
attempt to lobby against an expected move out of Afghanistan.
This raises questions about how the reports of such an order made the
rounds weeks ago, and why it took so long for the White House to correct
the record. The Afghan War is going extremely poorly, and the US is
actively negotiating a settlement of the war with the Taliban, which
would certainly give everyone reason to believe a drawdown was possible.
… That fiscal stimulus thing…
“… Ironically the Taliban, when it first came to power, suppressed the [opium] trade, causing near panic around the world since hundreds of billions of dollars were now not flowing into various arms bazaars, or
being laundered by banks and stock exchanges. The current war on the Taliban has resuscitated opium production. Today Afghanistan produces about 92 percent of global opium but much of it is managed by warlords who are associated with the Karzai regime, many of whom were agents of the CIA during the Afghan-Soviet War.”
Source: http://blogs.umb. edu/joinercenter/2011/11/07/the-new-york-times-the-cia-and-opium-and-the-vast-silence/
The biggest, brightest jewel of the Shadow Raj.
While I understand warlords may be managing opium trade, still, nothing moves on roads in Afghanistan without permission from US air forces.
How about the CIA ?
Them too.
Them too.
Not quite so; the furious U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan 2018 was the heaviest yet, to no strategic effect. The target is obviously those who are moving without the permission of the U.S. air blockade.
Unvetted warlords and likely just ordinary ‘entrepreneurs’ are moving product, including Afghan-processed product, cutting into D.S. margins and actively competing in the illicit drug trade.
Its probably more a pride thing to stop this, and an excuse for more traditional MIC treasury-milking than an actual threat to the opiate revenue stream. Only the few who have access to the black books could say for sure though.
A substantive suggestion that the US is heading out of Afghanistan is probably the only reason the Taliban was willing to talk with the US, if not the regime we installed in Afghanistan. So was the message to them, or a trial balloon for the US public? Let’s make sure the brass gets the message.
Or, a message to Eric Prince to get his mercenary takeover contract together.
Someone tell Trump Afghanistan is Obama’s war and maybe he’ll act.