the_taliban_shuffle_-_kim_barker

heroin. While in power, the Taliban regime had briey banned farmers
from growing poppies—largely to win international recognition, rather
than for religious reasons. But in the years since the Taliban ed,
poppies had returned to much of Helmand, because even though the
government had banned the plant, it had not enforced that ban, and
many inuential Afghans here proted from the trade. Afghanistan now
produced more heroin and opium than anywhere else in the world, and
Helmand was the epicenter. Consequently, Helmand was one of the
prettiest provinces in Afghanistan. During the spring, elds were
splashes of brilliant red, orange, and purple.
Neither NATO nor the United States seemed quite sure how to tackle
the drug trade. Allow the opium and heroin to ow, and watch the
region sink further into lawlessness. Crack down on the opium farmers,
and risk driving them into the arms of the Taliban, now protecting and
encouraging the trade.
Until now, few of the international forces had spent much time in
Helmand—there were simply not enough troops in the country to
adequately cover the south. The major exception was the U.S.-led
antiterrorist squad, mostly composed of U.S. special operations forces—
the men with beards from elite parts of the military whom we were
never supposed to refer to nor talk to while on embeds—and the men
with beards from government agencies referred to as “other government
agencies,” a term that typically included the CIA and other spook-like
groups. These men had been operating in Helmand since the beginning
of the war, hunting Al-Qaeda and other top terrorists, or so we were
told.
As part of Operation Mountain Thrust, the regular U.S. Army was
now moving into Helmand to try to secure key parts before ocially
handing over the province to the British. The army had just opened up
new outposts, the major one about three miles from a town called
Musa Qala, a stronghold of insurgents, poppy farmers, and drug
traffickers.
I had managed to get an embed in Musa Qala, despite what
happened with Crowley the summer before. Somehow I had avoided
any blacklist. And supposedly I was lucky. Many journalists considered
this to be the best embed possible. But I wasn’t thrilled. It sounded