The Taliban's Heroin Ploy

[Elphaba]

The Taliban's Heroin Ploy - Page 1 - The Daily Beast

Forty years ago, the Vietnam War was partly undermined by heroin addiction among U.S. troops. Surely mindful of that, the Taliban and al Qaeda are now using Afghanistan’s bountiful heroin supplies as a tactical weapon. An internal U.S. intelligence report has concluded that the two groups are targeting American troops in an effort to undermine their effectiveness, while raising cash to pay for new recruits and weaponry, a U.S. intelligence official tells The Daily Beast.

It’s a logical tactic. The drug is plentiful, cheap—less than $1 for a day’s supply—and potent. And while Army officials publicly dismiss talk of any surging drug problem, some privately express concern about the possibility of increased drug use among bored and susceptible young soldiers.
. . . .
According to the report, which the official spoke to me about only on the condition of anonymity, the Taliban and al Qaeda see an opportunity: U.S. and other NATO soldiers are caught in an increasingly unpopular conflict with high stress and little to do in their spare time. Drugs are a tempting escape. The report cites the drug problems in previous drug-producing combat zones. In Vietnam, some frontline U.S. troop battalions had substance abuse rates that exceeded 20 percent, almost all due to China White, the almost-pure heroin from the adjacent Golden Triangle. Russian soldiers who served in Afghanistan in the 1980s returned to the motherland with an addiction rate than also approached 20 percent.