New Report Outlines How Blackwater Made Money In The Losing War To Stop Afghanistan Drug Production

American troops patrolled poppy fields in southern Afghanistan on Monday minutes before being ambushed by the Taliban. Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

The Guardian: Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high

Opium poppy cultivation is up in Afghanistan despite the infamous mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater being paid $569m by the Pentagon to stop it

In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan stands out: opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year.

Yet there is a clear winner in the anti-drug effort – not the Afghan people, but the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.

Statistics released on Tuesday reveal that the rebranded private security firm, known since 2011 as Academi, reaped over half a billion dollars from the futile Defense Department push to eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 32% of the $1.8bn in contracting money the Pentagon has devoted to the job since 2002.

WNU Editor: They have clearly (and spectacularly) failed in their mandate .... Afghanistan Opium Harvest Reaches Record Level.