this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 112 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

lmao, no it doesn’t. the US didn’t go to Afghanistan to eradicate opium. the US didn’t give a shit about it at all, lmao.

do tankies so blindly hate the US that they’ll give the Taliban a bj just to try to make the US look bad? wow...

[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 year ago (469 children)

The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War is a summary of the Washington Post's reporting on Afghanistan, specifically on the US government's own internal assessments from all levels of the military and political administration. In it, you'll find this quote:

Of all the failures in Afghanistan, the war on opium ranked among the most feckless. During two decades, the United States spent more than $9 billion on a dizzying array of programs to deter Afghanistan from supplying the world with heroin. None of the measures worked. In many cases, they made things worse.

The US doesn't need "tankies" or anyone else to make themselves look bad as far as the Afghan drug trade goes.

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 year ago (12 children)

We also didn't threaten to kill the farmers for growing it. No shit the Taliban was successful. Comply or die. They're the ones who were profiting from it anyway. Now that they're in charge again, religion trumps financial needs.

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[–] [email protected] 98 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

80% of worlds's opioids consumption is in USA which has 4,6% of worlds population.

That's what they are doing, waging Third Opium War on their own people.

[–] [email protected] 82 points 1 year ago

Intelligence agencies love the drug trade because:

  1. It's easy (certainly for a state actor) dark money
  2. It's ubiquitous
  3. It gives you blackmail material on all sorts of useful people
  4. It gives you the proven ability to smuggle bulk quantities across the globe
  5. Who is going to blow the whistle on you?
[–] [email protected] 77 points 1 year ago (10 children)

This is one of the dumbest articles I ever read. The entire government changed. Taliban can be dictators. The US couldn't. On top of this, they essentially had two years to switch to wheat before this occurred. Something that was less economically feasible over two years ago due to an unfortunate food shortage in the area now.

Asking why someone couldn't get something done as quickly as a dictator is something a naive child asks.

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 year ago (6 children)

A reminder that the Taliban only exists because the US funded the Mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan war

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

During the time of the US occupation of Afghanistan, opium from the region comprised a full 90% of the world's heroin supply. So I would say "the same thing they've been doing since at least the days of the Vietnam War and the Golden Triangle."

[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I had a bunch of friends who went to Afghanistan/Iraq and they were protecting poppy and marijuana fields

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 year ago (25 children)

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (18 children)

pseudoscience anti-Israel propaganda

Lol what is this even supposed to mean

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 year ago (60 children)
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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago (9 children)
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[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, it doesn't raise questions. We knew back in 2003 that there was never a long-term plan. The point was to kill a guy, and then to do some military spending. A major success, on those lines.

The Taliban are terrible, though.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago

Turns out they were also attempting to monopolize the worlds heroin supply too, a major success on those lines too.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I mean... Sure there are major improvements that can be had in the US, but punishment and consequences as defined in Sharia law isn't exactly something that the US can simply adopt.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago

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Wikipedia article on mintpressnews

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago

Lmao

You mean the US wasn't trying to eliminate heroin production surprised-pika

"...but at what cost?!?!" These lizards deserve a whole lot of things.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

The us was using opium as a weapon of war against russia and iran. Its well known and the public health concequences in both those countries were horrific

But since mexico has orders of mag itude more state capacity than the taliban their failure to solve opium problem makes one almost certain the us goverment is also behind that.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago

Talican doing what Americant lol

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