Mobbed Up
How America boosts the Afghan opium trade

http://harpers.org/archive/2018/04/mobbed-up/
Publisher:  Harper's Magazine
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article

Touted by the US as fueling terrosism, the author takes a closer look at the opium trade in Afghanistan and reveals a situation far more complex; notably drug lords manipulating US commanders and Western involvement ironically creating explosive opium growth.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

There is a truism about Afghanistan that gets updated every year. Currently it runs: America has not been in Afghanistan for sixteen years; it has been in Afghanistan for one year, sixteen times. The complete lack of institutional memory may help to explain why the fervor of the anti-opium crusade keeps waxing and waning with policy shifts from Washington.