Now Afghanistan has been left behind where next will the US invade ?

[Poolie]

42 minutes ago, spanawaybob said:

I'm an American and lost 3000 fellow citizens on 911, we did the job at hand but greedy hands and war profiteers kept us there 10 years too long...same with Iraq,  but it's very difficult to be a democracy in the free world and live by rules unlike china and Russia and Iran and NKorea who will gas their own people along with the enemy,  so I would think that the USA IS THE  LESSER OF THE MAIN WARMONGERS IN THIS WORLD!  Russia invaded Crimea and SOON CHINA WILL INVADE TAIWAN!

Whereas you've invaded no-one?

Right........

[Guest]

1 hour ago, kerryd said:

When the Taliban took over, all they did was stop reporting how much poppy cultivation was happening, This was evidenced by the fact that the flow of opium and heroin into Europe didn't suddenly stop after the Taliban took power.

Keep in mind that even when ISAF was in Afghanistan, it was estimated that 80% of the heroin in Europe came from Afghanistan poppies.

In the lead up to the American invasion in 2001, the Taliban threatened to "throw open the warehouses and flood Europe with opium".
Why ? 
Because they'd been stockpiling warehouses full of opium to drive the prices up !!

And while we were there, the production continued. It cause a huge problem for ISAF because every time they'd burn some poppy fields, they'd create more support for the terrorists !

Good post on this matter kerryd mate probably one off the major failings of the ISAF mission was the failure to destroy the opium cultivation in Afghanistan during their years there that was a result of NGO's and do gooder Politicians getting in the way of what was morally the right this to do.

 

1 hour ago, kerryd said:

For the Taliban - drugs are haram (forbidden) but then again, they aren't using them. They are selling them to decadent infidels in Europe so that's OK !!

Technically  Haram for them but judging by the amount of hypodermic syringes around most compounds I've seen which were a nightmare for needle stick injuries it was common for young Afghan males as well as the ANA & ANP to be regularly using it and smoking it and hash.

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, gummy said:

What about the UK ? This thread is about the question I asked regarding the US. Instead of attempting a deflective post why not start a new thread of your own ion the subject matter that you questioned ?

Noted. but I took this thread to be about countries invading other countries as was mentioned in earlier posts, so I was not completely off topic.

Edited August 19, 2021 by NoshowJones

[kerryd]

2 minutes ago, 23RD said:

Technically  Haram for them but judging by the amount of hypodermic syringes around most compounds I've seen which were a nightmare for needle stick injuries it was common for young Afghan males as well as the ANA & ANP to be regularly using it and smoking it and hash.

No doubt. Lot of foreign troops as well. I remember stories of (military) guys getting busted, mostly for hash.

I also recall some newspaper or magazine did an article about the growing addiction problem amongst the Afghan population, mostly as a result of getting hooked during the poppy cultivation process.

I think it's a common problem where people who harvest the poppies end up absorbing some of the raw opium and end up developing a habit.
I mean, it's not like they wear PPE while doing it ! Bare hands, small knives, constant exposure.

And "haram" is often one of those "it's OK to do until you get caught" kind of things. 
Like how in Afghanistan it's also "haram" to eat shellfish, but for Muslims in Thailand (and other SE Asian countries I presume) it's perfectly OK.
Or like how in Afghanistan (and other Muslim countries) booze is "haram", but again, for Muslims in Thailand, Egypt and many other places, it's fine.

On a trip to Egypt in 2005 I was having dinner with my local guide on a "Nile dinner cruise" boat. The waiter asked what I wanted to drink and I was looking at the sodas and fruit juices when my guide asked for a beer. OK ! I order a Jack/Coke. Not a single blink of an eye by anyone.

I asked the guide right out - isn't it forbidden to drink alcohol ? He responded by taking a long sip of his beer and stating that they (Egyptians) were "a little more progressive".

The next day we were heading out to Saqqara and we passed some places with parking lots full of very expensive cars. I was told that those were "night clubs" (it was 9 in the morning) and most of the cliental were Saudis. They'd drive over for the weekend and while the wives were shopping, they'd be in the nightclubs doing the things they weren't allowed to do back home.

I remember when I used to have to go to the airport in Kabul all the time, one of the (Police or Immigration) guys used to always pester me for "porno mags" and vodka. 

Being Canadian, our PX didn't have booze or porn. Seems other "civilian contractors" would smuggle stuff in and give it to the guards.
I couldn't give him anything, unless I paid for it out of my own pocket as the company sure as **** wasn't going to reimburse me.

(It's no wonder they had a problem with confiscating booze from arrivals as I mentioned in a different post. Their own people would pilfer the confiscated booze which cause a dilemma for the higher ups that they solved by simply not checking the luggage of any foreigners when they arrived !)

[KaptainRob]

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