Photos of U.S. and Afghan Troops Patrolling Poppy Fields June 2012
June 29, 2012 in Headline
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Even More Photos of US/NATO Troops Patrolling Opium Poppy Fields in Afghanistan
More Photos of US/NATO Troops Patrolling Opium Poppy Fields in Afghanistan
US/NATO Troops Patrolling Opium Poppy Fields in Afghanistan
U.S. Marines with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, patrol through a poppy field during Operation Lariat in the Lui Tal district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 16, 2012. The Marines conducted the operation to disrupt enemy logistics and establish a presence in the area. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ismael E. Ortega/Released)
U.S. Marines with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, patrol through a poppy field on their way to Patrol Base (PB) Mohmon in the Lui Tal district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 17, 2012. The Marines joined with coalition forces at the PB to begin conducting operations in the area. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ismael E. Ortega/Released)
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. John K. Silvernail with Golf Company, 2D Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, takes a knee in a field of poppy during a halt in a security patrol in Musa Qal'eh, Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 16, 2012. Marines conducted the patrol to disrupt enemy tactics in the battle space. (U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Lance Cpl. Chistopher M. Paulton/Released)
An Afghan boy stands watch over his family's poppy and wheat fields as U.S. Marines with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6 patrol by in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan April 24, 2012. Marines conducted the patrol to interact with the local populace and gather information on enemy activity in the area.
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Noel Rodriguez, a team leader with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, communicates with an adjacent squad while on patrol in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 1, 2012. Marines patrolled to provide security in the area and interact with the local populace.
A field filled with opium poppy plants can be seen April 11, 2012, in Marjah, Afghanistan. Heroin is derived from raw opium gum, which comes from opium poppies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt Michael P. Snody)
A field filled with opium poppy plants can be seen April 11, 2012, in Marjah, Afghanistan. Heroin is derived from raw opium gum, which comes from opium poppies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt Michael P. Snody)
U.S. Marines with Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT), Weapons Company, 2D Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, conduct a satellite patrol through a poppy field in Marjah, Afghanistan, April 16, 2012. CAAT patrolled over a five day period to erect Patrol Base Sledgehammer Four and disrupt insurgent activity in the area. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. David A. Perez/Released)
Landscape photo of poppy flowers in Habib Abad, Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 4, 2012. U.S. Marines and Afghanistan National Army soldiers conducted a patrol to disrupt insurgency activity.
Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier conducts a satellite patrol, April 17, 2012, Marjah, Afghanistan. The ANA took part of a 5 day operation to erect Patrol Base Sledgehammer 4 to disrupt the insurgence activity in the area. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. David A. Perez/Released)
Scored poppy plants await the final harvest in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan April 24, 2012. The annual poppy harvest yields the largest profit of the year for local Afghan farmers, ultimately resulting in 90 percent of the world's opium supply.
Scored poppy plants await the final harvest in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan April 24, 2012. The annual poppy harvest yields the largest profit of the year for local Afghan farmers, ultimately resulting in 90 percent of the world's opium supply.
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Michael Hanley, right, a machine gunner with 2D Squad, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, patrols through a field of poppy outside of Patrol Base Fires, Helmand province, Afghanistan April 24, 2012. Marines conducted the patrol to interact with the local populace and gather information on enemy activity in the area.
An Afghan farmer watches from a poppy field as the 288th Sapper Company, a National Guard Unit out of Houston, Miss., performs a dismounted patrol in the Uzugan province in southern Afghanistan, April 2, 2012. Dismounted patrols, in conjunction with their route clearance missions, have lead to a significant decrease in insurgent activity in the Dorifshan and Baluchi valleys and an increase in not only the safety and security of the coalition and Afghan Security Forces, but also helped the unit form a bond with the local Afghan civilians.
An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier provides security during a satellite patrol along a poppy field in Marjah, Afghanistan, April 17, 2012. The ANA took part in a five day partnered operation to erect Patrol Base Sledgehammer Four and disrupt insurgent activity in the area. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. David A. Perez/Released)
A field filled with opium poppy plants can be seen April 11, 2012, in Marjah, Afghanistan. Heroin is derived from raw opium gum, which comes from opium poppies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt Michael P. Snody)
A U.S. Marine with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6 walks through a poppy field during a security patrol in Gorazan Valley, Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 17, 2012. Marines conducted the patrol in search of suspected enemy fighters. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Andrew J. Good)
U.S. Marines with Combined Anti-Armor Team, Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, conduct a satellite patrol through a poppy field in Marjah, Afghanistan, April 19, 2012. CAAT conducted a five day partnered operation to erect Patrol Base Sledgehammer Four and disrupt insurgent activity in the area. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. David A. Perez)
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Nicholas Gonzalez, a machine gunner with 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, patrols through a poppy field in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 27, 2012. Marines conducted the patrol to provide security in the area and interact with the local population.
Related Material From the Archive:
- More Photos of US/NATO Troops Patrolling Opium Poppy Fields in Afghanistan
- Even More Photos of US/NATO Troops Patrolling Opium Poppy Fields in Afghanistan
- US/NATO Troops Patrolling Opium Poppy Fields in Afghanistan
- UNODC Afghan Poppy Eradication Report May 2012
- Afghan Opium Production Has Risen 61% Since 2010
- Graphic Photos of Afghan Civilians Killed by U.S. Soldier on March 11, 2012
- Former Afghan Anti-Drug Czar Says Opium Production Ready to Skyrocket
- More Afghan Children
This just makes me sick. Our troops used to burn these poppy fields; now they protect them. Who are these troops working for anyway?
Burn them? Really. Before the U.S. invaded Afghanistan the Taliban had reduced Opium production to about 10%. A few years after the U.S. invasion production levels reached 90%. It is amazing how little research the average American seem to do but instead listens and watches the corporate controlled news media for their facts and information. At one time we were taught that reading was fundamental. That no longer seems to be the case. The days of critical thinkers seems to be gone. John D. Rockefeller once asked a few of his colleagues, what would it take to control the news media. Their answer. You would only need to control the top 25 newspapers.
ya, so what? Fox News, Geraldo Rivera reported this in 2010
repeat after me……Al-CIA-da
http://youtu.be/N_54LJMwG4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_54LJMwG4E
The troops indirectly work for the CIA. When an American president says he believes in GOD it stands for Gas, Oil, Drugs which is why they are in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pipelines and Poppies – always was. Remember Poppy Bush?
Drugs and war always been complimentary, since…well pretty much forever our elites regulate the mafia and arrest anyone they don’t own.
They used to say they were burning coca or poppy field, true but they burned only 20 percents, only the poor farmers penalized and suffers, not the mafia, they just push the price on the streets….
Wasn’t it General Smedley Butler who said that “War is a racket”?
Sorry m8,tThey haven’t taken over the Talibans business – the opium business in that part of the world has of late been the preserve of the warlords/Northern Alliance . . . you know . . . “our” guys !! The Taliban had virtually eliminated Opium poppy cultivation before 911 . . . . They even got a War-on-Drugs “Well done” reward from Sec-of-State Colon Powell to the tune of $54 mill late 2000, early 2001, or there abouts from memory. No doubt the mainstream media in the US were/still are trumpeting the “Taliban selling drugs to finance terrorism” meme but the truth is they were always anti. The c.i.a. on the other hand has a long and well documented history (it’s even in the goddammed Congressional Record for fucks sake !!!) of close involvement in the hard drug business – heroin from the Golden Triangle during Vietnam, Cocaine from Central America to pay for the Contra’s weaponry, and now back to heroin from Afghanistan with the added bonus of being able to flood Russia with cheap heroin, thus pissing them right off !!).
You are right though on the production – It’s gone through the roof and that the war on drugs is a racket. Nixon created the D.E.A. and the talk was of doing so to take drugs out of the hands of the F.I.B., giving the white house access to control
Actually, that is the title of a book he authored. Read it, and if you find anything with which you disagree, disprove it. This country needs to hold elected officials accountable with draconian law. Saying Romney will fix it is naive. We, the people, need to fix it. The District of Columbia needs to be reduced, fiscally, to a shadow of its current self.
since the US went into afghanistan the opium production has increased significantly! You think they are there for the taliban? Yea, they are there to take over the taliban’s business!! War on Drugs is a racket.
Romneya – Matilija poppy and relatives :P
ye, for years wars are being financed by drugs
beautiful flowers, and sorry for posting again but opium can also be used for many good things
Can’t believe my tax dollars go towards paying for this shit.
GOD IT’S Stands for GOLD, OIL AND DRUGS NOT Gas Oil and Drugs you dumb fuck.
Protecting the American people my ass!!! But, most dumbed down AmeriKan sheeple are programmed to say/think this. Hero worship causes a lot of this thought process as well.
Beautiful flowers. Why can’t we grow them here? Oh, they provide Opium, which refined brings us morphine and heroin. This hould be legal here, just like cannabis. For preppers of all stripes, the ability to grow your own medicine is priceless. we are controlled by our controllers. Break free and legalize poppies and cannabis.
We can and DO grow opium poppies here. They are de facto legal now, even if technically still illegal. Opium poppy seeds are sold everywhere they sell flower seeds, and I see them growing everywhere each year, including entire front yards full of them. Cannabis is still strictly illegal, even non-drug cannabis hemp, but opium poppies are totally allowed now. Go figure…
Arm and train the Fathers now We fight the children??? yep thats about standard US Policy.Excpet now we have added Army building to the equation. The ANA? Notice they are using US equipment and weapons? the Military Industrial complex isn’t shedding any tears over that one are they?
END THIS ILLEGAL FUCKING WAR
It’s fucking sad.
The Opium poppy will be grown regardless of who grows it. We do not belong in Afghanistan. We never did. We should end all corporate wars abroad and bring home the troops to rebuild American infrastructure. This would bring jobs, security, and all ships would rise. No fear, no compromise, and no surrender. Get rid of the corporate clowns and elect Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, or someone else who has a clue.
This is no longer the American army they are corporate mercenaries and when their usefulness becomes a liability they will be discarded much like the American worker. those who continue to enable these fools we call our leaders who keep wasting our blood & treasure to keep their drug markets flowing with unaccountable money are just as much to blame. Stop voting for these idiots! Barackmitt Robomney, Please!
Right on!
The first thing the US did when it gained some control of Afghanistan was to give control of the biggest airport to…the CIA. As mentioned by others, the opium trade in this ‘stan dropped to less than 10% under the Taliban. Ten years after the invasion & in theory it produces 110% of the worlds current requirement for opium.
Who (out of all the major government agencies around the Western world) has a history of wholesaling drugs to fund secret ops?
I’m sure it’s all just a coincidence.
Besides, the US Army & Marine Corp has always worked for big business, Smedley Butler & others have said so going back over a century. It’s nothing new, it’s just how it’s done that has changed. I think what has changed & suffered most is democracy, or the illusion of it. You have no left wing in US politics, just how far right of centre they are. The people are now only represented by a face, not by policies. Big business always had control over the politicians, just now they have more than ever.