In his new
article, columnist Dean Henderson says that the Central Intelligence Agency
created the Afghan heroin trade.
"All I know is that basically the Taliban
had eradicated poppy production ... one thing they did I guess partly because
they were fundamentalists is they eradicated poppy production and I think it was
a huge reason why we went in there in the first place and 9/11 was the pretext
that we needed to go in there," Henderson told Press TV's U.S.
Desk in a phone interview on Tuesday.
On October 7,
2001, former president George W. Bush announced the beginning of the war on
Afghanistan. It has now become the longest-running war in U.S. history, and
there is no end in sight.
The Taliban
remain in control of major parts of the nation. Peace talks have collapsed.
Civilian and troop casualties continue to mount.
Even with 33,000
American troops back home, the U.S.-led coalition will still have 108,000 troops
- including 68,000 from the U.S. - fighting in Afghanistan at the end of this
year.
The U.S. has
begun negotiations with the Kabul government over the extension of troop
presence past 2014, despite repeated claims by the Obama administration that the
war in Afghanistan will come to an end that year.
AGB/SM