Secret CIA program in Afghanistan. They wanted to destroy poppy crops

For years, the CIA ran a secret program in Afghanistan to spread poppy seeds with lower levels of psychoactive substances as part of the fight against heroin production in that country, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Assessments of the effectiveness of these efforts were ambiguous.

According to the daily, which cites 14 people privy to the mission, it lasted from 2004 to 2015, although many details, including its budget, remain unknown. As part of the program, the CIA dropped billions of less psychoactive poppy seeds during night flights in British C-130 aircraft over the provinces of Nangahar and Helmand. The intention was to crossbreed the two poppy species, reducing the effectiveness of the crop for heroin and opium production.

Afghanistan is the world's largest source of heroinand the fight against poppy cultivation and drug production was one of the problems in the war with the Taliban. The heroin trade was one of the sources of financing for the Taliban and also contributed to corruption within the Afghan authorities. At the same time, Afghan farmers made their living from crops.

According to the report of the Special Inspector General overseeing U.S. involvement in Afghanistan (SIGAR), the U.S. spent $9 billion to combat this practice, although it is unclear whether this amount included the CIA's secret program. The mission was so secret that even high-ranking Pentagon and State Department officials in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations did not know about it.

Other strategies to combat poppy cultivation considered by the United States included spraying pesticides or purchasing the entire crop for drug production.

The effectiveness of the CIA program is unclear. According to some officials quoted by the newspaper, it was quite effective for a period, although it consumed a large part of the agency's anti-drug budget. Others, however, said it made no significant difference. According to SIGAR, poppy harvests dropped significantly between 2007 and 2011, but then increased again. In 2018, the office found that none of the anti-drug programs undertaken by the US and partners had produced lasting effects.

Nevertheless, according to the Washington Post, in 2015 the CIA considered using a similar strategy against poppy crops in Mexico, although this idea was abandoned due to more difficult logistics.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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