US and Afghan troops recently destroyed a stronghold of the drug trade in southern Afghanistan. The offensive launched in the city of Marjah was a vast military operation to gain control of a stronghold of Taliban insurgents that is also used as a hub for storage and processing of drugs. “The four-day operation has seriously disrupted one of the key narcotics operations in southern Afghanistan,” reads the communiqué issued by the US commander in the country.

The official report adds that the narcotics hub is still under surveillance by an unmanned aircraft to detect any movement of rebel insurgents. According to the official communication, the troops discovered in the drug hub about 44,000 pounds of chemicals used to process heroin.

While 60 militants died during the offensive, local authorities claim that 37 innocent civilians were killed and 25 others were wounded during the attack. Another regional deputy claimed that 1,500 families had to flee the area. Civilian deaths are diminishing the credibility of the international troops in the country.

The Taliban are said to be raking in about $470 million a year from the heroin trade in Afghanistan that is estimated to be about 7 to 8 thousand tons of opium a year. The insurgent militant group gets the massive amount from direct drug trafficking and exacting 10% tax from Afghan poppy farmers. Given this scale, what is touted as the recent and supposedly biggest drug bust in Afghanistan by US forces handicapped merely a small amount in Taliban drug profits, and destroyed just over one percent of yearly drug haul.

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Via break.the.matrix