enhanced_deficit
04-04-2015, 10:37 AM
Way to go.
Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high
Opium poppy cultivation is up in Afghanistan despite the infamous mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater being paid $569m by the Pentagon to stop it
http://i.guim.co.uk/media/w-620/h--/q-95/70df75dceccb41d581bf0a4e87e59d50cb0b632d/0_114_4096_2460/1000.jpg
(http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/31/blackwater-gets-rich-afghanistan-drug-production#img-1) An Afghan farmer harvests in an opium poppy field in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on 27 March 2015. Afghanistan is listed as world’s largest opium producer. Photograph: Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA
Tuesday 31 March 2015 12.13 EDT Last modified on Thursday 2 April 2015 18.31 EDT
In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan (http://www.theguardian.com/world/afghanistan) stands out: opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year.
Yet one clear winner in the anti-drug effort is not the Afghan people, but the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.
Statistics released on Tuesday reveal that the rebranded private security firm, known since 2011 as Academi (http://www.wired.com/2011/12/blackwater-rebrand-academi/), reaped over a quarter billion dollars from the futile Defense Department push to eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 21% of the $1.5 bn in contracting money the Pentagon has devoted to the job since 2002.
The company is the second biggest beneficiary of counternarcotics largesse in Afghanistan (http://www.theguardian.com/world/afghanistan). Only the defense giant Northrop Grumman edged it out, with $325m.
According to the US inspector general for Afghanistan “reconstruction”, the $309m Academi got from US taxpayers paid for “training, equipment, and logistical support” to Afghan forces conducting counternarcotics, such as “the Afghan National Interdiction Unit, the Ministry of Interior, and the Afghan Border Police”.
Far from eradicating the deep-rooted opiate trade, US counternarcotics efforts have proven useless, according to a series of recent official inquiries. Other aspects of the billions that the US has poured into Afghanistan over the last 13 years of war have even contributed to the opium boom.
In December, the United Nations reported a 60% growth (http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2014/888) in Afghan land used for opium poppy cultivation since 2011, up to 209,000 hectares. The estimated $3bn value of Afghan heroin and morphine represents some 15% of Afghan GDP.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/31/blackwater-gets-rich-afghanistan-drug-production
Related
Ex-FBI agent sentenced to 10 years in Afghan kickback scheme (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=34037432)
Associated Press March 30th, 2015
Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high
Opium poppy cultivation is up in Afghanistan despite the infamous mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater being paid $569m by the Pentagon to stop it
http://i.guim.co.uk/media/w-620/h--/q-95/70df75dceccb41d581bf0a4e87e59d50cb0b632d/0_114_4096_2460/1000.jpg
(http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/31/blackwater-gets-rich-afghanistan-drug-production#img-1) An Afghan farmer harvests in an opium poppy field in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on 27 March 2015. Afghanistan is listed as world’s largest opium producer. Photograph: Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA
Tuesday 31 March 2015 12.13 EDT Last modified on Thursday 2 April 2015 18.31 EDT
In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan (http://www.theguardian.com/world/afghanistan) stands out: opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year.
Yet one clear winner in the anti-drug effort is not the Afghan people, but the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.
Statistics released on Tuesday reveal that the rebranded private security firm, known since 2011 as Academi (http://www.wired.com/2011/12/blackwater-rebrand-academi/), reaped over a quarter billion dollars from the futile Defense Department push to eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 21% of the $1.5 bn in contracting money the Pentagon has devoted to the job since 2002.
The company is the second biggest beneficiary of counternarcotics largesse in Afghanistan (http://www.theguardian.com/world/afghanistan). Only the defense giant Northrop Grumman edged it out, with $325m.
According to the US inspector general for Afghanistan “reconstruction”, the $309m Academi got from US taxpayers paid for “training, equipment, and logistical support” to Afghan forces conducting counternarcotics, such as “the Afghan National Interdiction Unit, the Ministry of Interior, and the Afghan Border Police”.
Far from eradicating the deep-rooted opiate trade, US counternarcotics efforts have proven useless, according to a series of recent official inquiries. Other aspects of the billions that the US has poured into Afghanistan over the last 13 years of war have even contributed to the opium boom.
In December, the United Nations reported a 60% growth (http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2014/888) in Afghan land used for opium poppy cultivation since 2011, up to 209,000 hectares. The estimated $3bn value of Afghan heroin and morphine represents some 15% of Afghan GDP.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/31/blackwater-gets-rich-afghanistan-drug-production
Related
Ex-FBI agent sentenced to 10 years in Afghan kickback scheme (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=34037432)
Associated Press March 30th, 2015