On March 11, at the 56th session of the Commission on Narcotics Drugs held by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Victor Ivanov, the head of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service, revealed that since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan heroin production has increased 40 fold, more than 1 million people have died due to Afghan heroin and now 90% of the world’s heroin supply comes from Afghanistan.
 
 These are damning statistics which the western media and the U.S. Government will try to evade and further underline the complete failure of U.S. named “Operation Enduring Freedom,” an aggressive invasion, which has done nothing but decimate the country’s people, destroy almost all of the infrastructure and has further allowed America’s war profiteers to become fabulously rich.
 Ivanov told the conference that: “Afghan heroin has killed more than 1 million people worldwide since the ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ began and over a trillion dollars has been invested into transnational organized crime from drug sales… Any impartial observer must admit the sad fact that the international community has failed to curb heroin production in Afghanistan since the start of NATO’s operation.”
 
 With the Middle East, the Arctic, Venezuela and the slew of other countries that have been the subject of U.S. targeting both military and otherwise it is clear what the real objectives are, and were, first and foremost oil and energy resources. With Afghanistan the real reason will never be admitted as it is much more illicit.
 
 Although officials will not state this openly, both in Russia and elsewhere, judging from the U.S.’ past history of invading countries where there are large financial dividends to be had as well as ones of strategic importance, it would appear that the trillion dollar Afghan heroin industry is what the U.S. was after. This would explain why the U.S. has done nothing to eradicate the cultivation of opium in the country and has done nothing to stop the flow of heroin out of Afghanistan.
 
 Unlike the decades before 9-11 there is sadly little chance that anyone will ever come forward and expose the entire lie that has been the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. With the U.S. hyper-security state and its aggressive persecution of whistleblowers there will be no Iran-Contra like revelations pointing to U.S. narcotics profiteering or collusion with the drug trade. What we have are the statistics to look at and the aftermath of the U.S. invasion.
 
 According to data presented by Ivanov at the session opium production has increased to 154,000 hectares and according to reports from Afghanistan will be at 157,000 hectares this year. This is in sharp contrast to the situation before the U.S. invasion in October 2001 when the Taliban had banned the growing of all poppies. What is telling is that after the U.S. invasion all production resumed.
During the presentation by Ivanov data was shared which shows that 820 tons of heroin makes its way into Europe and Russia every year. Most of it is trafficked through the unstable Middle East and Africa as is part of the 994 tons of cocaine that is consumed in the U.S. and Europe.
 
 In a graph used by Ivanov during his presentation opium production in Afghanistan in 2001 was at a paltry 185 tons a year compared to 8,200 in 2007 and 6,900 in 2009. This accounts for a huge amount of dirty money that Ivanonv says is nearly on par with the world’s oil and gas trade.
 
 Moscow believes that eradicating the Afghan poppy fields is the simplest solution to the problem, one that the U.S. for some reason has eschewed. Ivanov said:"Metaphorically speaking, instead of destroying the machine-gun nest, they suggest catching bullets flying from the machine-gun. We suggest eradicating the narcotic plants altogether. As long as there are opium poppy fields, there will be trafficking."
 
 And as long as there is trafficking there will be trillions of illicit dollars to fund U.S. expansionism, illegal invasions and the endless war on terror.