Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high
An Afghan farmer harvests in an opium poppy field in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on 27 March 2015. Afghanistan is listed as worlds largest opium producer. Photograph: Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA
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.
Related: Opium harvest in Afghanistan reaches record levels after troop withdrawal
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.
The company is by far the biggest beneficiary of counternarcotics largesse in Afghanistan. Its closest competition, the defense giant Northrop Grumman, claimed $250m.
According to the US inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, the $569m Academi got from US taxpayers paid for training, equipment, and logistical support to Afghan forces conducting counternarcotics, such as the Afghan National Interdiction Unit, the Ministry of Interior, and the Afghan Border Police.
Far from eradicating the deep-rooted opiate trade, US counternarcotics efforts have proven useless, according to a series of recent official inquiries. Other aspects of the billions that the US has poured into Afghanistan over the last 13 years of war have even contributed to the opium boom.
In December, the United Nations reported a 60% growth in Afghan land used for opium poppy cultivation since 2011, up to 209,000 hectares. The estimated $3bn value of Afghan heroin and morphine represents some 15% of Afghan GDP.
Given the growth in opium poppy cultivation, it must be assumed that the Talibans income from the illegal trade in narcotics has remained an important factor in generating assets for the group, the United Nations reported.
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Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high