In an unique Washington Submit story, reporter Warren Strobel describes a CIA operation in Afghanistan over the course of a couple of decade. The purpose was to degrade the nation’s opium crop.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It has been over 4 years now because the final U.S. troops left Afghanistan. However even now, we’re nonetheless studying new issues in regards to the 20-year U.S. presence there. Final week, The Washington Submit broke a narrative a couple of covert CIA operation that came about in Afghanistan over the course of a couple of decade. The purpose was to degrade the nation’s opium crop, which factors to how U.S. army intervention results in ripple results far past the battlefield. For extra on the small print of this operation we’re joined by Washington Submit reporter Warren Strobel. Welcome to this system.
WARREN STROBEL: Thanks for having me.
DETROW: Let’s begin with among the fundamentals. Why was this vital for the U.S. to do? Why did individuals really feel like they wanted to degrade Afghanistan’s poppy crop?
STROBEL: Effectively, , the U.S. obtained into Afghanistan, and the Bush administration thought it might be a fast warfare – shortly pivoted right into a warfare in Iraq. After which, after a pair years, the U.S. discovered itself mired in a extremely lethal battle, and shortly got here to comprehend that the opium crop, which is considered one of Afghanistan’s most important exports, Scott, was funding the Taliban, funding the insurgency and likewise destabilizing the federal government america was making an attempt to assist. So it was this big roadblock to any potential success. And there have been deep, deep debates about what to do, what was potential, how you can remedy it.
DETROW: Are you able to stroll via precisely how this operation labored? What was taking place, what was being dropped from planes, how they carried this out?
STROBEL: So this started within the fall of 2004, and it was within the fall as a result of that is when Afghan farmers sometimes plant their poppy crop. And what occurred is that the CIA overflew poppy fields in Helmand and Nangarhar Provinces and dropped by the billions poppy seeds that that they had specifically developed. These poppy seeds have been designed to provide a plant that produced lots much less opium and heroin than regular poppy vegetation. They have been additionally designed to return up first, so the Afghan farmers would suppose that they have been one of the best vegetation. They usually have been designed to provide a flower that was very vibrant and purple, which additionally made them engaging to the farmers.
And the hope was that, over time, this pressure of poppy plant would dominate within the fields, its seeds can be replanted and over time you’ll degrade the efficiency of the general poppy crop. Repeats needed to be finished over a interval of years to influence the fields, I suppose – roughly 2004 to 2015.
DETROW: Did it work?
STROBEL: That was the toughest query. I’ve to say, simply with out sounding like I am whining an excessive amount of, this was a extremely onerous story to get. It took me 9 months. For a pair causes. It was extremely labeled. It concerned the presidential discovering authorizing CIA covert motion. And it was hidden form of within the midst of the previous, with totally different individuals remembering totally different items, and even some individuals remembering it in several methods.
All I can say is that folks that I belief, I’ve recognized for a very long time, prompt to me that it did work, at the very least for a time frame, in some locations. Nevertheless it was a really costly program that concerned, I will not say large, however common air drops, plenty of air gasoline and safety and all that. And as one particular person put it to me, over time, they realized the juice wasn’t well worth the squeeze.
DETROW: Yeah. Does any of that – this specific operation that you just reported out or different ones prefer it – do you suppose that is vital context for what we’re speaking about proper now – these rather more aggressive, overt, out-in-the-open drone and different kinds of strikes on ships allegedly carrying medication?
STROBEL: I feel, in a approach, it does. And it is not a direct connection, however there’s an oblique connection within the sense that I spent 9 months speaking to individuals in regards to the counternarcotics program in Afghanistan, and regardless of the maybe non permanent success of the CIA program, it was an abysmal failure. There have been arguments about what to do. There have been arguments in Washington, arguments between allies, arguments with the federal government of Afghanistan. There was simply merely a lot cash concerned that it did not work.
And I feel – I’ve talked to many people who find themselves lengthy skilled within the warfare on medication who imagine that Trump’s actions within the Caribbean and in the direction of Venezuela in the end will not be going to result in a serious discount in drug provide. And I feel the frequent denominator right here is that neither of those packages is addressing the demand by the U.S. populace for medication.
DETROW: I imply, we spent lots of time desirous about how little long-term wins the U.S. obtained – to place it that approach – out of a 20-year army presence in Afghanistan. What’s the state of the opium commerce in Afghanistan in the present day, in 2025?
STROBEL: So the Taliban, as we all know, retook energy in 2021. After taking advantage of the opium commerce for a few years, they instituted a ban, which was very efficient, at the very least within the first two or three years of their renewed rule. I imagine the determine is a 91% drop in opium cultivation. However in recent times, significantly within the final 12 months or so, the United Nations experiences that it is crept up once more. Apparently, the opium or the poppy farming has moved from the south, the place the CIA form of attacked it again within the day, to extra distant areas of the north. And I am additionally informed by some consultants that there is elevated poppy farming throughout the border in Pakistan. So it simply – I feel that is additional illustration of what we have been simply speaking about – how troublesome these issues are to manage.
DETROW: Warren Strobel covers U.S. intelligence businesses for The Washington Submit. Thanks a lot for speaking to us about your newest reporting.
STROBEL: Thanks a lot for having me.
DETROW: And a observe – the CIA declined to touch upon Warren Strobel’s story.
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