Thread by @AlanRMacLeod

[Thread] My new @MintPressNews report into how the CIA fueled a massive opium addiction crisis in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.

mintpressnews.com/cia-afghanista…

When the USSR invaded Afghanistan, the CIA pumped billions into the Mujahideen, allowing them to take control over global heroin production to fund their war. Production went from 100 tons per year to over 2,000 by 1990.

After the Taliban came to power, they actually almost totally eradicated opium production. But then the US invasion happened, and opium production exploded:

The US allied with local warlords who grew opium and blocked global calls to eradicate the trade.

By the 2010s, over 90% of the world's heroin came from there, accounting for more than half of Afghan GDP. By comparison, cocaine made up 3% of Colombia's GDP at its height.

The US was literally sending troops to their death to protect warlords' poppy fields.

Unsurprisingly, troops themselves felt this was "bullshit".

mintpressnews.com/opioid-crisis-…

Drugs leave southern Afghanistan via Pakistan or Iran. And the trade has devastated those countries.

There are around 7.5 million heavy opium addicts in those 3 countries.

For comparison, the US and the EU have around one million each.

A recent poll found that Afghans were the saddest people on Earth, with 0% responding that they were "thriving" and 85% saying they were "suffering."

mintpressnews.com/18-years-us-oc…