Right off the get go I want to point out that I am pretty sure who they are and what they're doing, but I also wanted to point out that I cannot
explain the full context of the video as the video description is almost non existent so there is certainly room for speculation. Hopefully some
fellow ATS members can help confirm who these people are and what they are doing.
Come one everyone, it's only 45 seconds long...watch it please
Now that you have all seen the video and have had the chance to base your own opinion/theory I will explain what I think I see.
I see armed NATO forces (in my opinion most certainly American) watching Afghan farmers cultivate their opium poppies.
Many might say that they are observing the fields while they prepare them for "destruction" but I do not believe this to be true.
Why are armed soldiers standing there watching farmers tend to illegal crops? It appears that they are giving their opium poppies some TLC just like
we would to our tomato plants, I find it difficult to believe that the actions presented in this video depict any intent to destroy those fields.
So, again, who are they and what are they doing?
In my opinion the answer is quite clear, they are allowing this because the Afghan opium trade is a major cash crop and certain entities have taken
full advantage of it...how dare I say that!
Common sense tells me that I am not the only one who believes that opium is one of the MANY reasons why Afghanistan is still, and most likely will
always be occupied by Western forces.
We have heard countless stories, seen countless pictures, yet some crowds get bent out of shape when we mention the possibility that one of the major
reasons they are there is to plunder their opium.
They are not only there for opium either, there are plenty of reasons including but not limited to regulating their mass wealth of rare minerals and a
very convenient strategic location for pipelines and to help achieve their goal of destabilizing the Middle East.
They have used Afghanistan to spy on Iran, bomb innocent civilians both in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, so it wouldn't be such a crazy
theory to at least consider that they might have more sinister motives hidden up their sleeve.
This leads me to a greater problem...
Most of the people who ordered and supported this war consider the Afghanistan opium trade to be a major contributor of funds to terrorism, that being
said, would it not also make those soldiers monitoring and allowing the cultivation terrorists as well?
Participating in terrorism makes you a terrorist, am I wrong?
Before the invasion, the Taliban had the opium trade in check, so once they were settled in the invaders dipped into the Afghan heroin trade...the
government hates competition!
And please don't be too surprised if this is the first time you have heard that certain, if not all governments have a major part in the illicit drug
trade.
Who are the major players on the world stage though, any guesses?
Criminals In Action...
I pity the poor souls who get suckered into participating in this terror.
You are spot on , they are scraping the poppy bulbs so that the sap , which is what they make the drugs with will ooze out for collection.
This is not a field being prepared for destruction and they are being protected by soldiers of which type , I'm not sure , perhaps someone else can
confirm that.
I have friends who spent time guarding the fields while in Afghanistan so yes it is real. All one has to do is look at the statistics to see that
there is a large correlation between the start of the war and the rise in heroin use in America. I personally would not be surprised if the CIA was
flying it in on Uncle Sam's dime with the current level of corruption that is running rampant in our society. When we came upon large Marijuana grows
in Iraq we were always told to leave them alone. I think you pretty much got it right. S&F
To generate/maintain some type of economy for Afghanistan?
It is really bizarre that the Taliban in 2001 tried to ban opium production and sslaes claiming "it was a unIslamic thing to take drug and sell
drugs" and then record poppy production occurred thereafter.
It sounds like(from one side) if production stopped, the farmers would blame US for poverty and return to the Taliban's rule.
November 2009, the Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics General Khodaidad Khodaidad stated that the majority of drugs are stockpiled in two
provinces controlled by troops from the US, the UK, and Canada. He also said that NATO forces are taxing the production of opium in the regions under
their control and that foreign troops are earning money from drug production in Afghanistan.
Max Keiser said that when he worked on Wall Street, it was well known that every Friday night, the armored trucks would pull up to the big banks and
unload the drug money that was needing to be laundered for the next week. Millions of dollars of worth of drug money, every week.
I doubt the US government would last a week without the influx of drug money. After all, if they wanted to really win the war on drugs once and for
all, they just need to poison it with Agent Orange or Depleted Uranium.
The Taliban tried rather violently to get the farmers to stop producing heroin because it brought the outsiders, the infidels (meaning us/U.S.) in and
was interfering with their religious tribal way of life. That's why the Taliban had to go.
And we pay tax dollars to fund this craziness, and our sons and daughters are paying with their lives, their limbs and their sanity.
Thanks for sharing your own personal story about Iraq. My brother was in Afghanistan, he had stories supporting both sides. He told me about times
when they drove through or near burning fields, at other times witnessed other fields being protected such as this one.
I completely agree that the CIA or some other black op organization is using this to generate some extra funds for what ever it is they are trying to
do. The sad thing is that this stuff makes it home and poisons people via pharmaceuticals or heroin...it ruins families and much more.
At the same time the "other team" are demonized for doing the exact same thing, but that's the name of the game so no surprise there.
Maybe they are using the funds from these operations to help pay for the rebels in other places such as Libya and Syria...the irony keeps getting
stronger I can't take it anymore
Have you heard the story of a soldier accidentally tripping over 1 of the largest Lithium Mines while fighting the war in Afghanistan. It's also
one of the largest in the world.
"It could also cause friction between the U.S., which has made heavy investment in Afghanistan, and China and Russia, who are both eager to stake a
claim for a share of the riches. Read more:
www.dailymail.co.uk... Follow us:
@MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook"
If I dig deeper I'll come back and share the story of how they found it... It will make you laugh.
People still think we're there to " help " these poor poor people from the big bad wolves... I've been saying this for years... The Middle East in
general is a gold mine... It's about power/ greed/ and resources and not allowing these guy's to get smart enough to take our dollar out!
To the guy that said we're protecting our interest so we can make pain meds for " the people"
I just have to first say... It wouldn't grow here (?) I just had to laff hard at that one.... Haha
We don't need Mexico or jaaaaMacia to grow some of the best medical pot around.
The opium poppies are not exclusively used for the production of heroin, they are also used to manufacture morphine and various other opiate
analgesics.US and UK/NATO troops have been used to oversee the poppy harvests, and to ensure that the product is transported safely to enable it to be
passed on to legitimate licensed morphine and opiate analgesic manufacturers.
I didn't miss that story, but thanks for contributing supporting links!
I made sure to mention minerals/resources as part of the reason that we are there.
Please feel free to share more examples though, I mostly focused on the video in my OP but I am glad that other members are sharing supporting
stories/links
Except we can synthesize it; no need to grow it halfway around the world. I think the soldiers are being told they are guarding it for medical
(legal) purposes.
Of course, if some kid back in the States decides to take advantage of his vaunted 'freedom' and partake of a bit, he could end up in a cage in
record time. There's a profit in that, too, and for the same cartels.
Sure, there is most likely double dealing and hypocrisy at work here. But as said earlier, it's also a legitimate product in many cases and quite
invaluable. It was also one of the largest crops of the ancient world and for good reason. It's a damn shame all of the BS that comes with the
politics and The Drug War - a decent return could come to legitimised farmers in some of the poorest parts of the world for this rather than lining
the pockets of Police Forces, Cartels, Politicians, Smugglers and so forth.
The sap is extracted by slitting the pod vertically in parallel strokes with a special curved knife. As the sap oozes out, it turns darker and
thicker, forming a brownish-black gum. A farmer collects the gum with a scraping knife, bundles it into bricks, cakes or balls and wraps them in a
simple material such as plastic or leaves.
I agree that certain analgesics that mimic morphine and other opiates can be produced synthetically, (opioids) ,however,morphine and morphine
derivatives still require the opium poppy as a base.
Hearts and minds, guilt over destroying the only source of income for people living in poverty, wishing to use the land without making it blatantly
obvious, keeping the lands in the hand of people that are more friendly than Taliban in strategic areas, getting free drugs, poppies are pretty.
I think hearts and minds makes the most sense. Why give even more people incentive to outright despise you if you can just look the other way of what
can be considered a victimless crime. I would rather deal with poppy farmers than poppy farmers turned Taliban. That and I have no idea the extent
of the drug problem over there. Encouraging it could be beneficial. Encourage the use of opium and have a dumbed down, lazy population that would
rather get high than fight.
Even though I have shown bias towards the smuggling rings existing, another example of this being something other than a smuggling ring could be that
they were actually preparing the fields for destruction and allowing the farmers to keep a small portion as charity, but not enough for profit. I have
heard first hand experiences of the poppy fields being burned but that is no secret.
There are tons of other possibilities as you mentioned but I still find it hard to believe that these black op smuggling rings do not exist no matter
how many alternatives we think of.