Trump’s opium war: US begins bombing Taliban drug labs as new Afghanistan strategy takes hold

The US and Afghan air forces launched a series of strikes on narcotics laboratories in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, marking the beginning of what could be a long, expanded air war there under US President Donald Trump.

The strikes marked the “first significant use” of legal authorities granted August 21 by the Trump administration that will allow the Pentagon to target Taliban revenue streams, said Army General John Nicholson Jnr, the top US commander in Afghanistan. Previously, the US military carried out strikes only when facing imminent threat or working directly with Afghan forces.

Nicholson, speaking Monday from Kabul to reporters at the Pentagon, said that the strikes – carried out by B-52 bombers, highly advanced F-22 Raptor fighters, unmanned aircraft and Marine Corps rocket fire – were still ongoing. The Afghan air force began the strikes by dropping bombs from A-29 aircraft, and the United States continued the bombing campaign afterward.

“There are many, many targets that have been identified,” Nicholson said. “We are striking some, and we will continue to strike these targets as we further refine them.”

Nicholson said that the strikes were not carried out until now, nearly three months after Trump approved his new strategy, because it took extensive preparation and observation by surveillance aircraft to assess the targeted sites. The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that there are 400 to 500 opium laboratories across Afghanistan, and about 10 of them have been bombed so far, the general said.

“These strikes required the mapping of their revenue streams, and mapping of their infrastructure in areas where we had not done this before,” Nicholson said.