Vaguely remember someone telling me that the CIA funds itself in part by using Afghanistan as a massive opium factory. Can anyone confirm? Haven't been able to find concrete sources that I can show my lib friends.
Found a lead: https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/10/i-could-live-with-that-how-the-cia-made-afghanistan-safe-for-the-opium-trade/
Not necessarily that the US was directly making money from the opium there, but that the CIA knowingly facilitated its growing and transport so as to help the Mujahideen fund themselves
It’s the same shit they did in Vietnam. Not really surprising the opioid epidemic fucking exploded once we invaded Afghanistan. It’s why we left the warlords who literally fucked little boys alone and paid them money to keep the production going. They had no facilities hardly and the Taliban government in the 90s were on track to get rid of opium production entirely.