{"id":97806,"date":"2017-09-04T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T11:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=97806"},"modified":"2019-11-18T10:03:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T10:03:39","slug":"afghanistan-and-the-cia-heroin-ratline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/09\/afghanistan-and-the-cia-heroin-ratline\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan and the CIA Heroin Ratline"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Persian Gulf harbors an array of extremely compromising secrets. Near the top is the Afghan heroin ratline \u2013 with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) positioned as the golden node of a transnational, trillion dollar heroin money laundering operation.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

\u00a9 AFP 2017\/ Bay ISMOYO<\/p><\/div>\n

25 Aug 2017 – In this 21st century Opium War, crops harvested in\u00a0Afghanistan are essentially feeding the heroin<\/a> market not only in\u00a0Russia and Iran but\u00a0especially in\u00a0the US<\/a>. Up to\u00a093% of\u00a0the world’s opium<\/a> comes from\u00a0Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Contrary to\u00a0predominant Western perception, this is not an Afghan Taliban operation. The key questions\u00a0\u2014 never asked by\u00a0Atlanticist circles\u00a0\u2014 are who buys the opium harvests; refines them into\u00a0heroin; controls the export routes; and then sell them for\u00a0humongous profit compared to\u00a0what the Taliban have locally imposed in\u00a0taxes.<\/p>\n

Beyond Opium: US Could Be ‘Smuggling Uranium Out of Afghanistan’<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The hegemonic narrative rules that Washington bombed Afghanistan<\/a> in\u00a02001 in “self-defense” after\u00a09\/11; installed a “democratic” government; and after\u00a016 years never de facto left because this is a key node in\u00a0the Global War on\u00a0Terror (GWOT), against\u00a0al-Qaeda and the Taliban alike.<\/p>\n

Washington spent over $100 billion in\u00a0Afghan reconstruction. And, allegedly, $8.4 billion<\/a> in “counternarcotics programs”. Operation Enduring Freedom\u00a0\u2014 along\u00a0with the “liberation” of\u00a0Iraq\u00a0\u2014 have cost an astonishing several trillion dollars. And still the heroin ratline, out\u00a0of occupied Afghanistan, thrives<\/a>. Cui bono?<\/p>\n

Have a SIGAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

An exhaustive Afghanistan Opium Survey<\/a> details the steady rise of\u00a0Afghan opium production as\u00a0well as\u00a0the sprawl in\u00a0production areas; “In 2016, opium production had increased by\u00a0approximately 25 times in\u00a0relation to\u00a0its 2001 levels, from\u00a0185 tons in\u00a02001 to\u00a04800 tons in\u00a02016.”<\/p>\n

Another exhaustive report issued by\u00a0the delightful acronym SIGAR<\/a> (Special Inspector General for\u00a0Afghanistan Reconstruction) even hints\u00a0\u2014 discreetly\u00a0\u2014 at\u00a0the crucial connection; Operation Enduring Freedom feeding America’s heroin epidemic.<\/p>\n

Afghanistan is infested by\u00a0contractors; numbers vary from\u00a010,000 to\u00a0tens of\u00a0thousands. Military and ex-military alike can be reasonably pinpointed as\u00a0players in\u00a0the heroin ratline\u00a0\u2014 in\u00a0many cases for\u00a0personal profit. But the clincher concerns the financing of\u00a0US intel black ops that should not by\u00a0any means come under\u00a0scrutiny by\u00a0the US Congress.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Gulf-based intel source with\u00a0vast experience across\u00a0the Pentagon-designated “arc of\u00a0instability” tells the story of\u00a0his interaction with\u00a0an Australian intel operative who served in\u00a0Afghanistan; “This was about\u00a02011. He said he gave US Army Intelligence and the CIA<\/a> reports on\u00a0the Afghan heroin trade\u00a0\u2014 that US military convoys from\u00a0the ports of\u00a0Pakistan were being used to\u00a0ship the heroin out\u00a0of Afghanistan\u00a0\u2014 much of\u00a0it was raw opium\u00a0\u2014 for\u00a0distribution as\u00a0their backhaul.<\/p>\n

No one answered.<\/p>\n

The Never-Ending War: US Misrepresents Troop Numbers in Afghanistan by Thousands<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He then cornered the key army intelligence operations and CIA at\u00a0a meeting and asked why no action was taken. The answer was that the goal of\u00a0the US was winning the hearts and minds of\u00a0the population and giving them the poppies to\u00a0grow won their hearts. He was then warned that if he brought this issue up\u00a0again he would be returned to\u00a0Australia in\u00a0a body bag.”<\/p>\n

The source is adamant, “CIA external operations are financed from\u00a0these profits. The charge that the Taliban was using the heroin trade to\u00a0finance their operations was a fabrication and a form of\u00a0misdirection.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that brings us to\u00a0a key motive behind President Trump<\/a>‘s going against\u00a0his instincts and accepting a new Afghan surge; “In the tradition of\u00a0the opium wars of\u00a0perfidious Albion in\u00a0the 19th century, in\u00a0which opium paid for\u00a0tea and silk from\u00a0India, and the taxes on\u00a0these silk and tea imports financed the construction of\u00a0the mighty British Navy which ruled the seas, the CIA has built itself up\u00a0into a most powerful agent based on\u00a0the trillion dollar heroin trade<\/a>. It is impossible for\u00a0Trump to\u00a0overcome it as\u00a0he has no allies to\u00a0tap. The military are working together with\u00a0the CIA, and therefore the officers that surround Trump are worthless.”<\/p>\n

Trump’s Call to ‘Hire American’ Faces the Heroin Challenge<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

None of\u00a0this deviates from\u00a0the CIA’s modus operandi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Past examples abound. The most notorious concerns the Golden Triangle during\u00a0the Vietnam war, when the CIA imposed a food-for-opium scheme on\u00a0Hmong tribesmen from\u00a0Laos\u00a0\u2014 complete with\u00a0a heroin refinery at\u00a0the CIA headquarters in\u00a0northern Laos and the set up\u00a0of nefarious Air America to\u00a0export the opium.<\/p>\n

The whole story was exposed on\u00a0Prof. Alfred McCoy’s seminal The Politics of\u00a0Heroin in\u00a0Southeast Asia\u00a0\u2014 which drove Langley nuts.<\/p>\n

A contemporary counterpart would be a recent book<\/a> by\u00a0Italian journalist Enrico Piovesana detailing the New Opium War in\u00a0Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The return of\u00a0Air America<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Pakistani intel source with\u00a0vast Pashtun\/ tribal area contacts delves into\u00a0even more incendiary territory; “According to\u00a0our best information the CIA has brought in\u00a0their al-Qaeda-Daesh proxies into\u00a0Afghanistan to\u00a0justify the additional American troops”. That would neatly tie in\u00a0with Trump being cornered by\u00a0his generals.<\/p>\n

And then, there’s Moscow. Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry was adamantly denouncing “foreign fighters” transferred by “unknown helicopters” as\u00a0the perpetrators of\u00a0a massacre of\u00a0Hazara Shi’ites in\u00a0a northern Afghanistan province; “It seems that the command of\u00a0the NATO forces controlling the Afghan sky stubbornly refuses to\u00a0notice these incidents.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It does not get more serious than\u00a0that; Moscow denouncing sectors of\u00a0the US-trained Afghan Armed Forces side by\u00a0side with\u00a0NATO engaged in\u00a0covert ops supporting jihadis.\u00a0 Russian intel has hinted\u00a0\u2014 discreetly\u00a0\u2014 for\u00a0quite some time that US intel is covertly sponsoring Daesh\u00a0\u2014 a.k.a.\u00a0“ISIS Khorasan”\u00a0\u2014 in\u00a0Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

WikiLeaks CIA Docs: US Lacked Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategy<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Russian intel is very much aware of\u00a0the Afghan chapter<\/a> in\u00a0the New Great Game. Russian citizens are “collateral damage” of\u00a0the Afghan heroin ratline as\u00a0much as\u00a0Americans. The Russian Foreign Ministry is tracking how tons of\u00a0chemicals are being illegally imported into\u00a0Afghanistan from, among\u00a0others, “Italy, France and the Netherlands”, and how the US and NATO are doing absolutely nothing to\u00a0contain the heroin ratline.<\/p>\n

Well, Air America, after\u00a0all, never died. It just relocated from\u00a0the jungles of\u00a0Southeast Asia to\u00a0the arid crossroads of\u00a0Central and South Asia.<\/p>\n

_____________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pepe Escobar is a Brazilian independent geopolitical analyst. He is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia Times Online. He has been a foreign correspondent since 1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before 9\/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of \u201cGlobalistan<\/a>\u201d (2007), \u201cRed Zone Blues<\/a>\u201d (2007), \u201cObama does Globalistan<\/a>\u201d (2009) and \u201cEmpire of Chaos<\/a>\u201d (2014), all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is \u201c2030<\/a>\u201c, also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 sputniknews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

25 Aug 2017 – Afghanistan is infested by contractors; numbers vary from 10,000 to tens of thousands. Military and ex-military alike can be reasonably pinpointed as players in the heroin ratline \u2014 in many cases for personal profit. But the clincher concerns the financing of US intel black ops that should not by any means come under scrutiny by the US Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,65,219],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-focus","category-anglo-america","category-central-asia-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}