Press TV
December 2, 2014
‘US invasion of Afghanistan increased extremism, drug trade’: Activist
The US invasion of Afghanistan has destabilized the country and led to an increase of “extremism” and the “explosion” of drug trade, says Rick Rozoff.
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The military occupation of Afghanistan by US and NATO forces since 2001 destabilized the country and led to an increase of “extremism” and the “explosion” of drug trade, a peace activist in Chicago says.
“The US and NATO military intervention,far from stabilizing the country, has led to an actual increase in armed extremism in Afghanistan,” said Rick Rozoff, manager of the Stop NATO International Network.
“Its [also] led to a veritable explosion of opium cultivation, flooding the heroin markets of Eurasia, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of people becoming addicted, tens if not hundreds of thousands dying as a result of heroin processed from Afghan opium,” Rozoff told Press TV on Tuesday.
“We know after 13 years of military occupation by the United States and NATO that Afghanistan has become incontestably the largest source of narcotics in the world,” he noted.
“The insincerely optimistic picture painted by the West of its accomplishments in Afghanistan is belied by the fact that there’s an increase of attacks by Taliban forces and that international aid agencies have to at least temporarily shut down their operations for fear that their personnel and the recipients of their aid might be victims of violence,” Rozoff stated.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country, despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops in Afghanistan.
Last month, President Barack Obama secretly signed an order that allows US troops to be involved in combat operations in Afghanistan throughout 2015, The New York Times reported.
The order will authorize American forces to continue their missions against the Taliban and other militant groups in the Asian country. The new authorization will also let US jets, bombers, and drones be used to aid ground troops.
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