That's how they get scads of $$$ to fund all their black-bag, off-the-book, covert operations, readers.
"Gates: Target heroin trade in Taliban fight; Cites corruption and funding of foe as key concerns" by Peter Finn, Washington Post | October 10, 2008
BUDAPEST - Defense Secretary Robert Gates called on NATO allies yesterday to target drug lords running Afghanistan's flourishing heroin trade as part of a wider effort to confront a resurgent Taliban.
"Part of the problem that we face is that the Taliban makes somewhere between 60 and 80 or more million dollars a year from the drug trafficking," said Gates, who is attending a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers.
And how much does the U.S. government take in, Bob?
Also see: Who runs the Afghan drug industry?
And FYI, readers: "U.N. drug control officers said the Taliban religious militia has nearly wiped out opium production in Afghanistan -- once the world's largest producer -- since banning poppy cultivation last summer."
"The drug trafficking is not only corrosive of good governance because it contributes to corruption," he said. "It also directly funds the people who are killing Afghans, Americans and all of our coalition partners there."
Actually, he is telling the truth: Since the drug trade is funding the U.S., and they are killing Afghanis.... and as far as a corruption of government, one need only look at the U.S.
Gates, however, ruled out any large-scale crop eradication campaign, which would likely alienate the country's farmers, many of whom survive on income from growing opium poppies.
GOOD!!!! Of course, Gates is LYING!!!!
See: U.S. Wages Chemical Warfare on Afghanistan
U.S. Pushes For More Chemical Warfare on Afghanistan
The potential consequences of a crackdown on the drug trade have been a source of division among the allies. Countries such as Germany and Spain fear that the crackdown could fuel support for the Taliban, and NATO troops have often ignored even overt drug running.
Ignored it? They are PART of IT!!!!
The NATO meeting comes against the backdrop of a growing alarm in Washington that the war in Afghanistan is in trouble in the face of an increasingly sophisticated and deadly enemy, which combines the Taliban, parts of Al Qaeda and networks of local militants.
"Al-CIA-Duh," huh? Who invented "Al Qaeda," readers?
And look at what the war-promoting, agenda-pushing Zionist War Daily saves for the LAST PARAGRAPH of the article:
US officials are also broadly supportive of efforts by the Afghan government to coax parts of the Taliban or affiliated militant groups away from the insurgency, and the Afghan adversaries have reportedly had contact through Saudi intermediaries. --more--"Yeah, the WAR-MONGERING JEW WAR DAILY wouldn't want the American people to know about PEACE TALKS!!
Also see: British Say We Can't Win in Afghanistan
French army chief rules out military victory in Afghanistan
Truce Talks With Taliban Underway in Saudi Arabia
So we have KILLED ALL THOSE PEOPLE for NOTHING?
Also see: Afghans Wax Nostalgic For Taliban
And it looks like the U.S. is going to push Karzai aside -- as I said before.
"US looks to militias in new Afghan plan; Approach would rely far less on Kabul government" by Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times | October 10, 2008
WASHINGTON - Confronting the prospect of failure after seven years in Afghanistan, the US military is crafting a new strategy that probably will expand the power and reach of tribal militias while relying less on the increasingly troubled central government.
The plan is controversial because it could extend the influence of warlords while undermining the government of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul. Any broad effort to train tribal militias probably would have US military forces working with Taliban sympathizers.
Then WHY have we MURDERED SO MANY of them?!! Aaaaaaahhhh!!!!!
But US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who is in Budapest to discuss the Afghanistan war with NATO defense ministers, said yesterday the United States would be open to reconciling with the Taliban. --more--"
Now look, I am ALL FOR THAT; however, WTF?!!!!!
All those DEAD PEOPLE -- including WOMEN and CHILDREN -- was for NOTHING?!!
I WANT WAR CRIMES TRIALS!!!!!!!!!
Never mind that the U.S. helped CREATE the TALIBAN!!!!
"The U.S. government was well aware of the Taliban's reactionary program, yet it chose to back their rise to power in the mid-1990s. The creation of the Taliban was "actively encouraged by the ISI and the CIA," according to Selig Harrison, an expert on U.S. relations with Asia. "The United States encouraged Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to support the Taliban, certainly right up to their advance on Kabul," adds respected journalist Ahmed Rashid. When the Taliban took power, State Department spokesperson Glyn Davies said that he saw "nothing objectionable" in the Taliban's plans to impose strict Islamic law, and Senator Hank Brown, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia, welcomed the new regime: "The good part of what has happened is that one of the factions at last seems capable of developing a new government in Afghanistan." "The Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis. There will be Aramco [the consortium of oil companies that controlled Saudi oil], pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that," said another U.S. diplomat in 1997."
I would just like to remind you, readers, and the world that LAYING BOMBS on their HOMES and FAMILIES, the littering of DU munitions, the secret prisons, the torture, the families displaced, the lives shattered, the chemicals dumped on them, all based on a BUNCH of LIES!!!
Whatever you think of the "Taliban," they NEVER DID ANYTHING TO US!!!!
We ALL KNOW WHO REALLY DID that BLACK-BAG INSIDE JOB of 9/11, and it wasn't the tribals running around the hills avoiding US and NATO air bombs and artillery batteries!!!!
And look at the solution they came up with:
"NATO allows strikes on Afghan drug sites
October 10, 2008
BUDAPEST: Signaling a major shift in strategy for the trans-Atlantic alliance, NATO defense ministers agreed Friday to allow direct attacks on Afghanistan's drug networks.
The accord means that troops will be able to attack drug operations provided they obtain authorization from their own governments. NATO officials stressed that only drug producers aiding the insurgency would be targeted.
Translation: They won't be attacking THEIR OWN drug runners!!!
The decision Friday was reached after considerable pressure from the U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates --more--"
Oh, great.
HOW MANY MORE PEOPLE are going to be MURDERED by this WAR CRIMINAL ACTION?
There is BLOOD on YOUR HANDS, Gates!!!
