The funny thing is that the Taliban are passionately against drug use !
Yet they run one of the Biggest drug trades in the world !
Hypocrites ? Yep , but they can justify it in their own minds !
BBC
More than 60 militants and drug traffickers have been killed in Helmand province during a three-day raid, the Afghan government says.
They said more than 16 tonnes of drugs were seized, together with weapons, explosives and suicide vests.
Afghan troops destroyed two sites at which drugs were produced.
They also freed several villagers who had been kidnapped by the militants for allegedly co-operating with the government.
Afghanistan produces 90% of the world's opium and the drugs trade is a key source of funding for the insurgency.
Coalition forces are battling militants in opium-producing areas of the south.
Last year the UN said corruption, lawlessness and uncontrolled borders result in only 2% of Afghan opiates being seized locally.
UN findings say an opium market worth $65bn (£39bn) funds global terrorism, caters to 15 million addicts and kills 100,000 people every year.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Scores killed in Afghan anti drugs operation
Thursday, July 1, 2010
NATO says district Afghan Taliban chief arrested
And the Taliban think they are winning .
Stupid Ass Clowns .
Associated press
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai has signed a decree launching an Afghan program to lure Taliban foot soldiers off the battlefield, as troops continue rounding up mid- to senior-level militant commanders including a Taliban leader captured in a four-hour gunbattle in the south, NATO said Thursday.
NATO said the Taliban district chief of Now Zad was captured and an unspecified number of insurgents were killed during an Afghan-international force operation Wednesday night in the remote Baghran district in northern Helmand province.
Taliban fighters inside the compound fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns before troops called in a precision airstrike, NATO said.
There were no casualties among civilians, Afghan troops or international service members, but an undisclosed number of Taliban were killed or wounded, the alliance said. Helmand provincial spokesman Dawood Ahmadi said 31 militants were killed.
The joint force seized dozens of automatic weapons, grenade launchers and 20 pounds of opium in the compound at Now Zad, a former insurgent stronghold where U.S. Marines have reported progress in winning over the population after a major offensive last summer.
NATO has reported that 130 mid- to senior-level Taliban have been killed or captured across the nation in the past four months.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Taliban, Marines Exchange Fire as Major Battle Looms
My bet is that some of the lower level Taliban are causing a distraction for the higher up's , so they can have a chance to find some Burqa's to escape in !
Foxnews
NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan — U.S. Marines and Taliban insurgents exchanged gunfire Thursday on the outskirts of Marjah, a southern militant stronghold where American and Afghan forces are expected to launch a major attack in the coming days.
To the north, a U.S.-Afghan force led by the U.S. Army's 5th Stryker Brigade linked up with Marines on Thursday, closing off a Taliban escape route to the nearby major city of Lashkar Gah.
No casualties were reported in the scattered clashes, which broke out as Marines moved ever closer to the edge of the farming community of 80,000 people, the linchpin of Taliban influence in the opium poppy producing province of Helmand.
Marines said the Taliban defenders were apparently trying to draw the Americans into a bigger fight before the U.S. was ready to launch the main attack.
"They're trying to draw us in," said Capt. Joshua Winfrey, 30, of Tulsa, Okla., commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines.
Through much of the day, insurgents repeatedly fired rockets and mortars at the American and Afghan units poised in foxholes around the town, 380 miles southwest of Kabul.
"I am not surprised at all that this is taking place," said the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Brian Christmas. "We are touching their trigger-line," referring to the outer rim of the Taliban defenses.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Former Afghan governor turned 3,000 fighters over to the taliban
"When I was no longer governor the government stopped paying for the people who supported me," he said. "I sent 3,000 of them off to the Taliban because I could not afford to support them but the Taliban was making payments.
What BS...this guy handed his fighters to the taliban to get even with us.Telegraph
Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, the former governor of Afghanistan's Helmand province, has revealed he turned thousands of his followers over to the Taliban after he was sacked from the job under pressure from British officials.
He was accused of being linked to the opium trade and lost his position in 2005 to pave the way for UK soldiers to be deployed to the region.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph at his Kabul home, Mr Akhundzada said that after losing office he encouraged up to 3,000 followers to take up Taliban offers of money.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Video shows taliban with US ammo
This isn't the first report of the taliban possessing American weapons and ammo. Ammunition destined for the Afghan security forces is occasionally diverted to the taliban by sympathizers within the Afghan forces. The taliban also regularly raid NATO supply convoy traveling from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Oh yeah, and a lot of that ammonium nitrate, fertilizer, used for road side bombs was destined for Afghan farmers who either use it to grow opium or give it to the taliban.
From Yahoo! News
KABUL – Television footage broadcast Tuesday showed insurgents handling what appears to be U.S. ammunition in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan that American forces left last month following a deadly firefight that killed eight troops.[...]Here's the video from al Jazeera.
The Al-Jazeera video showed insurgents handling weapons, including anti-personnel mines with U.S. markings on them, but it was unclear when the video had been filmed. The television station reported that insurgents said they seized the weapons from two U.S. remote outposts in Nuristan province.
The ammunition could be used against U.S. and Afghan forces, although the amount shown was not extensive. However, the footage will no doubt be used by insurgent propagandists to promote their "victory" over the Americans and encourage their supporters.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Mexican farm leader killed with 14 others on ranch
And another mass killing by Mexicos lovely Cartels !
....MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen killed fifteen people on an isolated ranch in northern Mexico, including a prominent farmworker leader, in the latest grisly attack in an area overrun by drug gangs, local police said on Friday.
Margarito Montes, a well-known organizer of agricultural laborers, was among the bodies found riddled with bullets in trucks in the town of Hornos in southern Sonora, a state bordering the United States, a police spokesman said.
The cause of the crime was unknown but the killings had many of the hallmarks of hits by drug cartels, who often use automatic weapons to murder people in groups to send a message to rivals.
More than 15,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an army-led assault on cartels soon after taking office in 2006.
Local farmers are often caught up in drug violence, paid or coerced to grow marijuana and opium poppies for powerful traffickers, often in northern states were cartels control large swaths of territory.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
17 taliban terrorist scum killed and tonnes of herion seized
Seventeen taliban were killed and over 50 tonnes of herion was seized in an US operation in Helmand Province.
Napalm all the poppy fields, carpet bomb Waziristan, nuke Quetta, just pretend that Afghanistan and Pakistan is 1945 Japan. AFP
KABUL — US and Afghan forces seized 50 tonnes of opium and killed 17 Taliban on Wednesday, the defence ministry said, as US President Barack Obama mulled his options for the increasingly war-torn country.[...]
In the five-hour operation that began at 11:00 am (0630 GMT), the soldiers dropped from helicopters into the Kajaki district of Helmand province, source of most of the world's heroin, the spokesman said.
"We seized and destroyed 30 tonnes of fertiliser, 1,000 boxes of AK-47 and TK machinegun bullets and other weapons," he said, adding that a factory for making remote-controlled bombs was also destroyed.
"Seventeen Taliban were killed, three were arrested alive," he said.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Taliban bankrolled by crime, al Qaida bankrolled by islamic charities
"With respect to the Taliban, the narco dollars are a major if not majority of their funding sources ... add in there as well extortion and kidnapping,...With Al Qaeda I think it is a mixed bag. They draw benefits from the Taliban but they are not relying wholesale on narcotics. They still rely on sympathetic donors and, to a certain extent, charities.'"
The taliban being bankrolled by the heroin trade, extortion, kidnapping, marble and timber isn't exactly news but always worth to point out.
Al Qaida being bankrolled by charities isn't news either but isn't it interesting that the ACLU condemns the Feds targeting islamic charities that transfer money to terrorist organizations? The Toronto Star
Afghanistan produces more opium than any other country in the world. The Taliban charges drug kingpins to move the opium through its territory, for what the United Nations estimates could run upward of $340 million annually.
The Taliban euphemistically refers to extortion money as tolls, taxes or even zakat, the 2.5 per cent donation to charity that Islam requires. A kidnapped Pakistani businessman had to pay more than $140,000 in ransom. When his Taliban captors freed him, he said, they told him, "Think of this as your zakat. Now your place in heaven is guaranteed.''
Money from drugs and criminal gangs make up roughly 85 to 90 per cent of Taliban revenue, estimates John Solomon, a terrorism expert with U.S. Military Academy's Counter Terrorism Center. In Pakistan alone, Owais Ghani, governor of northwest Pakistan, puts the Taliban's annual earnings at roughly $50 million.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
U.S., Afghan forces kill 60 in drug raid: military
Aw ! Now the Taliban is not going to have as much money to import their Goats for those crazy weekend Parties ! Maybe they will settle for Sheep instead !
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. and Afghan forces have killed 60 militants,
almost half in air strikes, and seized one of the country's largest
ever drug caches over a four-day operation in southern Helmand
province, the U.S. military said on Saturday.
The military had said earlier in the operation that 34 militants had been killed.
The troops were fighting for control of Loy Cherah Bazaar in
Helmand's Marjeh city, where they found 75 tonnes of poppy seeds, more
than 17 tonnes of morphine, opium and heroin, and caches of weapons and
equipment, the military said in a statement.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
34 taliban terrorist scum killed
Thirty four taliban killed and 16.5 tons of heroin seized. AFP
KABUL (AFP) — Troops killed 34 Taliban rebels and seized 15 tonnes of drugs during an ongoing operation in southern Afghanistan's insurgent stronghold of Helmand, the US military said Thursday.[...]
"A total of 34 militants have been killed," the statement said. "The most recent enemy deaths were caused by a series of precision air strikes during heavy fighting in the area."[...]
The latest battle started when troops began to secure an area called Loy Cherah Bazaar, which the statement said was a militant stronghold and drugs-processing hub.
They found at the bazaar two "war rooms" stocked with maps, communication equipment, Russian-made night vision goggles, US military vehicle parts and weapons, the statement said.
The troops in the Marja operation had uncovered 15,000 kg of high-grade narcotics, including 14,750 kg of black tar opium, 11 kg of processed heroin and 30 kg of morphine.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
U.S. Report Finds Declines in Opium in Afghanistan
Note how cultivation of opium correlates with taliban activity. Embassy of Afghanistan
A report released today by the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) found that opium production in Afghanistan declined by 31 percent in 2008. The report also found that opium cultivation experienced a similar drop of 22 percent.....
According to the 2008 U.S. Afghanistan Poppy Cultivation and Opium Production Estimate, opium production reached 5,500 metric tons in 2008, down from 8,000 metric tons in 2007. Additionally, poppy cultivation fell to 157,000 hectares in 2008, a decrease from the 202,000 hectares cultivated in 2007. The report declared that the number of provinces that are now poppy-free increased from 15 in 2007 to 18 in 2008 (of 34 provinces), and that opium poppy cultivation has all but been eradicated in most of Afghanistan’s North and East.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Iraq SAS units switch to hunting the taliban
Note to taliban: You can run but you'll only die tired. Times Online
“Who dares wins,” General Petraeus said, quoting the SAS motto. “They have exceptional initiative, exceptional skill, exceptional courage and, I think, exceptional savvy. I can’t say enough about how impressive they are in thinking on their feet.”[...]
With operations winding down, British special forces are preparing to leave Iraq in the coming months, along with most of Britain's remaining 4,100 military personnel on the ground.
Their formidable reputation and experience of covert missions in a war zone, however, mean that the two squadrons will be moved to Afghanistan to combat the Taleban leadership and opium smugglers, who help to fund insurgents.
Afghan and U.S.-led troops kill 30 Afghan militants
More bad guys taking Themselves a dirt nap today !
....
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan and U.S.-led forces killed 30 militants in southwest Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement on Friday.
Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest since the Taliban was ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001, with attacks spreading from the south and east to the outskirts of Kabul, forcing Washington to consider new policy options including a counter-insurgency push.
The operation, which U.S. forces said was led by Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers advised by U.S.-led coalition troops, took place in Gereshk district, some 530 km (330 miles) southwest of Kabul, on Thursday.
"After positively identifying the enemy fighting position and assuring there were no non-combatants in the area, the combined element returned fire ... killing 30 militants," the U.S. forces statement said.
Small arms fire and close air support were used to kill the militants, the statement said, adding that one ANA soldier was injured but no civilians were harmed.
The United States will send up to 17,000 additional troops this year to reinforce largely NATO-led military efforts in south Afghanistan, including Helmand province, which alone supplies around half the world's opium.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Taliban earning between $200 & 300 million from opium trade
NATO can no longer turn a blind eye to the opium trade. Targeting the opium trade in AFghanistan will seriously affect the taliban's finances. You can defeat one with defeating the other. Indian ExpressNew Delhi: Linking prevailing security scenario with illicit opium cultivation in Afghanistan, United Nations said the Taliban are earning 200 to 300 million dollars annually from a surcharge it levies on illegal trade in that country.
....
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that "the Taliban have an annual revenue of between USD 200-300 million from a surcharge levied on illicit drug trade".
This was revealed by International Narcotics Control Board in its report for the year 2008. The report was released today.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Canadian troops could target taliban's opium trade
It's about time, it's an open secret that the taliban sell opium to raise money for their jihad. In the taliban's eyes thepractice is a win-win situation for them because they make money off poisoning the populations of non-muslim countries.
But the taliban break the very first rule of any self-respecting drug dealer....don't get high off your own supply. I've heard and read that many taliban fighters are high as kites when they fight NATO soldiers. CBCCanadian soldiers participating in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan could soon be ordered to hunt down drug lords and attack the country's poppy trade, which is inextricably linked to the Taliban insurgency, Canada's top general says.
....
So far, Canadian soldiers have not been involved in anti-drug operations in Afghanistan, but that could change, said Walter Natynczyk, Canada's chief of defence staff.[...]
But Natynczyk said the ties between the drug trade and the insurgency are too strong to dismiss any longer, as profits or product often end up directly in the hands of fighters.
"Most times that we have operations, our soldiers, sailors and airmen have found drugs right there with Taliban," he said. "So the nexus between drugs and terror is very, very strong."
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Coalition Kills 32 Militants in Afghanistan
Now for some good news.
You can always count on GM to forward good news. Live LeakWASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2008 – Coalition and Afghan forces killed 32 militants and captured 10 suspected militants today and yesterday during operations to disrupt terrorist networks in Afghanistan, military officials said.
....
Coalition forces were fired on today while clearing a compound believed to be a command and control center for roadside bombs in Kandahar province. Forces returned fire, ki More..lling 15 insurgents and detaining six.
Also today, militants fired on coalition and Afghan forces with machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire in Helmand province. The forces returned fire, killing seven militants. During the operation, forces protected more than 300 local villagers from enemy fire, officials said.
Forces searched the area and seized caches that included bomb-making materials, homemade explosives, mortar rounds and 175 pounds of opium.
Yesterday, coalition forces targeted a suspected senior Taliban commander in Paktia province. The man, believed to be a liaison between the al-Qaida and Taliban terrorist networks, is suspected of aiding movement of foreign fighters into Afghanistan, officials said.
Friday, November 7, 2008
'Wearing poppies against shariah'
Anjem Choudary, the right hand man of Omar "the goat humping" Bakri, said that wearing poppies is not sanctioned by shariah law. But growing poppies and cultivating the opium is I guess.
"Muslims are not allowed to participate in anything that is clearly British nationalism.”Daily StarA hate preacher sparked outrage last night by urging British Muslims not to wear poppies.
....
Anjem Choudary said any Muslim who wore the symbol of respect was betraying his religion and backing “British nationalism”.
Choudary, a right-hand man of exiled cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, 47, was responding to news that poppy sales were down in areas of the country with a high population of Muslims.But Choudary, 41, said: “This is not something we should be supporting. We are not sanctioned to support poppies by the Sharia law.
“We’re talking about the Second World War and this doesn’t have anything to do with Muslims.
Muslims are not allowed to participate in anything that is clearly British nationalism.” The call comes days after Choudary, whose family lives on £25,000-a-year benefits, warned British Muslims that giving sweets to children on Halloween is “the greatest crime any person can commit”.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Taliban hiding $3.2 billion worth of opium
UN reports that between 6000 to 8000 tons of opium, worth about $3.2 billion on the market, is currently missing. Officials believe the taliban are hiding the opium to artificially prop up herion prices, or they might be stockpilling the drug for lean times. TimeIf international drug- and law-enforcement officials are right, the Taliban might be hiding up to $3.2 billion worth of opium inside Afghanistan, potentially causing huge complications for NATO's decision this month to attack Afghanistan's opium laboratories and smuggling networks. If it exists, the drug stockpile would also have a major bearing on Afghan officials' tentative peace talks with the Taliban, which are favored by U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus and both U.S. presidential candidates.
I would guess the opium is hidden in Pakistan...
According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, between 6,000 and 8,000 tons of opium have vanished during the past three years somewhere between the poppy fields of Afghanistan — which produce about 93% of the world's opium — and the world market. That's enough to supply all the world's heroin addicts for nearly two years. The whereabouts of the missing opium is a mystery so far, but international drug- and law-enforcement agencies say they believe the Taliban has begun to stockpile large quantities of the drug, which is worth about $464,000 per ton once it is exported from Afghanistan. When British forces recently occupied Musikalia in Helmand province, they uncovered a stockpile of 45 tons of opium. But that's a tiny fraction of what has disappeared. "Where is it? We have been asking," says Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. drug office. He recently appealed to NATO forces and Western intelligence officers to launch an aggressive hunt for the opium. It might sound like good news that so much opium has disappeared from the world drug market, but Costa believes the missing opium is a potential time bomb, and many law-enforcement officials agree. That's because the Taliban is believed to be "stockpiling to control the prices," says a spokesman for Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency, who confirmed that NATO forces have uncovered Taliban stockpiles of opium. Despite the bumper opium harvests, the street price of heroin remains a costly $67 per g in European cities, and the price Afghan farmers charge for their opium has remained about $70 per kg (about $33 per lb.). If the entire crop had been sold during the past two years, "the prices should have collapsed," says Costa. "But there has been no price collapse."
The Taliban grow no opium themselves but earn millions by levying a 10% tithe on farmers. Since heroin use is dropping steadily in the West, the value of opium is diminishing — that's why officials are especially alarmed by the Taliban's stockpiles. "Who would have reasons to hold on to a devalued stock? People who have mischief in mind," says Costa. He believes that the Taliban is saving the opium for lean times. He says the hundreds of Afghans working for the U.N. drug office in southern Afghanistan have recently found notices posted by the Taliban advising farmers not to grow opium this year. A similar edict by the Taliban during its last year in power, in 2001, resulted in tight supplies and soaring prices on the world market. "This is classic market manipulation," Costa says.
The Taliban could also be stockpiling drugs in preparation for a possible onslaught on Afghanistan's drug lords. NATO defense ministers agreed at a summit in Budapest this month to use their soldiers in Afghanistan for the first time to attack opium laboratories and smuggling convoys, rather than simply destroy opium crops.
Friday, October 3, 2008
NATO to Target Herion Traffickers in Afghanistan
NATO wakes up and decides to start targeting herion traffickers in Afghanistan. It's well known that a lot of the money made from selling herion goes to the taliban and al Qaida so they may continue on fighting NATO in Afghanistan.
Cut off one of their money supplies. The AgeNATO forces in Afghanistan will step up attacks on drug lords and narcotics traffickers who are supporting a Taliban insurgency that has rebounded in the past year, according to the top US commander in Afghanistan.
I would the herion trade and the insurgency are one in the same....
General David McKiernan also warned on Wednesday that US forces can't copy a central element of military success in Iraq — recruiting local tribes to support them — because the Afghan tribal structure has been shattered by 30 years of war.
He made it clear that NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, was not going to eradicate poppy crops. Afghanistan is the world's top grower of opium poppies, which are processed into heroin.
But by drawing a clear link between the narcotics trade and the insurgency, General McKiernan was outlining what could be an important and expanding role for US and NATO troops as they seek to eliminate a source of money and weapons for the insurgency.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
28 Taliban Killed
Past couple of days have been hell for terrorists Reuters
....
Afghan and international soldiers killed and wounded 18 insurgents in clashes in the district of Arghandab in the southern province of Zabul, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
"Twelve dead bodies of the insurgents were left on the battlefield," it said. Soldiers also found 10 kg (22 lbs) of opium left by the insurgents.
In a separate incident, Afghan soldiers killed 10 insurgents, including drug traffickers, during a security operation in Girishk district of southern Helmand province on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said in another statement.
