US Air Force Targets Afghanistan Drug Labs in Airstrikes

The US Air Force and Afghan forces struck seven drug processing centers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on November 19, as a part of a new strategy NATO said is meant to cut off the Taliban’s revenue stream.

The Air Force used one of its oldest and most heavy-duty pieces of weaponry, the B-52, in the strikes and also one of its latest, the F-22 Raptor, as videos released by the Pentagon and seen here show.

The attacks took place in Musa Qala, Kajaki, and Sangin districts of Helmand province, the footage shows.

In a recent report, the UN Office on Drug and Crime said production and cultivation of poppy in Afghanistan reached record highs in 2017 with 9,000 metric tons of opium produced in 2017 in Afghanistan, an increase of 87 percent from 2016. Credit: DVIDS/US Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs via Storyful