Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit patrol through a poppy field May 1 near the town of Garmser, Afghanistan. Marines are not eradicating any poppies, which produce a resin that can be turned into heroin, but they have established a checkpoint near where Afghan farmers walk out to their fields. As about 10 men moved through, the troops belatedly identified two who they thought could be Taliban scouts. “It’s the world’s greatest guessing game,” said Staff Sgt. Tyree Adams. David Guttenfelder / The Associated Press From The Captain's Journal:
In NATO and Poppy: The War Over Revenue, we discussed the U.S. and NATO program (then in the planning stages) to eradicate poppy since it provides a revenue stream to the Taliban. The Taliban also create income from marble quarries in Pakistan, extortion of cell phone providers in Afghanistan, ransom from kidnapping, and “protection” of small businesses.
The plans are finalized now and U.S. forces will fire on drug related individuals without proof that they are connected to any military objective.
NATO will remain within international law when it proceeds with new measures to kill drug traffickers in Afghanistan and bomb drug processing laboratories to deprive the Taliban of its main financing, the alliance’s secretary general said Wednesday.
The official, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said that “a number of buffers and filters” had been put in place to safeguard the legality of combating what he termed the nexus between the insurgency and narcotics.
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My Comment: A must read post from the Captain.