The latest documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal that US drone strikes in Afghanistan werent limited to just al Qaeda and Taliban leaders — they also targeted drug dealers accused of supporting the insurgency. Despite the best efforts of the NSA and coalition forces, the drug trade continues to thrive in Afghanistan. The country now produces nearly double the amount of opium it did in 2000 before the US invasion. With a record 224,000 hectares of land devoted to poppy cultivation, Afghanistan produced 6,400 tons of opium in 2014 — contributing around 90 percent of the global supply. The use of drone strikes in Afghanistan counterterror operations is well documented, but US and UK authorities have tightly controlled the identities of people targeted by the extrajudicial killings. The document said that deadly force could be used even where there was no proof to link opium dealers and the insurgency. Craddock wrote that it was no longer necessary to produce intelligence or other evidence that each particular drug trafficker or narcotics facility in Afghanistan meets the criteria of being a military objective.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 21:21:41 +0000
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