Hands off the Heroin?

Obama wants to reach out to moderate elements in The Taliban...if there are any. Why such an interest in, nay, emphasis on, Afghanistan? It's been advertised for some time now, and one wonders what is really going on with that. As you may have guessed by now, I rarely, if ever, accept the reasons proffered by government regarding policy decisions. No reasonable person should. Governments, especially ones as corrupt as ours, rarely reveal the the truth about their agendas. When one is up to no good, deception must be the modus operandi. But I digress a tad.

Of course there aren't really any reasons being put forth regarding why America should be expanding its military presence in Afghanistan other than the knee jerk one spelled, Terrorists! For my money, and it is my money come to think of it, our renewed efforts in Afghanistan are likely as much about controlling the opium trade in the region as they are about corralling pesky terrorists. Actually this administration's special interest in Afghanistan is more precisely about using vast poppy trade profits to fund all of the CIA and NSA's dirty work. When tax receipts are falling faster than an anvil tossed off the Empire State Building, one must find alternative means to keep vital agencies fully functional.

I know, even suggesting that (elements of) the U.S. government are concerned with controlling a region's heroin trade smacks (no pun intended) of anti-American conspiracy fantasy. Not really. The way things work for global powers is that any and all means are used to achieve one's goals, and good business is any business that puts the biggest pile of dough in your pocket. That's the way the big boys play ball and the U.S. as the world's biggest protection racket is far from being an exception. So please pardon me if I'm not presenting any evidence to buttress my case, but it is a fact that the heroin trade in Afghanistan got a big boost when The Taliban were taken down a peg or two following the downing of the World Trade Centers.

So, if the Taliban and other "terrorists", have, over the last many months or years, reasserted themselves, the ideology behind the U.S. drive to increase its military presence in the region might be: "Hands off the heroin."