Taliban trying to addict US soldiers to heroin?
On Current News, user WakeUpPeople points to this story: Report: Taliban trying to turn US troops into heroin addicts.
Originally posted over on the The Daily Beast by Gerald Posner, the story cites an intelligence official that says despite taboos against the military discussing it, addicting American troops to heroin is a goal of the Taliban.
Though the extent of the problem is unknown (and really the Daily Beast does not offer hard evidence that heroin addiction or even experimentation is widespread among soldiers deployed to Afghanistan) six anonymous soldiers painted a grim picture:
Does this seem likely? Do you think bored US troops would start using heroin in Afghanistan? If so, how can we combat this problem? Leave your comment over on Current News.
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Originally posted over on the The Daily Beast by Gerald Posner, the story cites an intelligence official that says despite taboos against the military discussing it, addicting American troops to heroin is a goal of the Taliban.
Today’s Taliban-fighting Americans were yesterday’s mujahideen-fighting Soviets. They saw how heroin helped disable a foreign fighting force more than 20 years ago. And that lesson isn’t lost on them. With the Afghan opium crop at record levels—generating more than 90 percent of the global supply—and the Taliban and al Qaeda increasingly relying on the drug trade to finance their war, targeting U.S. soldiers also has the potential to seed new markets.
Though the extent of the problem is unknown (and really the Daily Beast does not offer hard evidence that heroin addiction or even experimentation is widespread among soldiers deployed to Afghanistan) six anonymous soldiers painted a grim picture:
The Daily Beast spoke to six soldiers, four of whom had served in Iraq, and two from Afghanistan. All had developed opiate addictions and had sought treatment from the Veterans Hospitals in their home cities. None wanted to go on the record, because they were either in the Reserves, afraid their comments might be interpreted as criticism of the Army, or might reflect badly on their friends who were still serving honorably in the combat zones.
These six unanimously confirmed that heroin “was everywhere,” especially in Afghanistan. Each of them also talked about local suppliers who had established pipelines into American troop installations in many parts of the countries. One, who had been based at the Bagram airfield, said that heroin was “sold at a lot of the shops in the bazaar” located just outside the air base’s perimeter. They confirmed that some soldiers have bartered away military equipment, including knives, helmets, and flak jackets, for drugs. “Why do you think you can buy surplus Army equipment inside the bazaar,” one solider asked me.
Does this seem likely? Do you think bored US troops would start using heroin in Afghanistan? If so, how can we combat this problem? Leave your comment over on Current News.
Recently from the Current News Blog:
- Celebrity Oxy Watch: Big Brother Winner Adam Jasinski
- Get caught up on Cuba for tomorrow's Vanguard episode
- Oxy beats out crack in San Francisco's Tenderloin
- Witch children of Nigeria
- Maldives holds their cabinet meeting underwater (Video)
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- Afghanistan News, news blog
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- Drugs, Afghanistan, Taliban, Afghanistan War, 6 more
