WORLD OF FIREPOWER
I TE XT BY PAU L MA RTINEZ
t was late afternoon, almost dusk, on a cold
on the fingers of one hand. Operationally and
Our intel told us that the vehicle we were
Afghan day when we got word that we had
tactically, that made our job easier.
going to intercept soon after it crossed the
good intel and a possible mission that night.
border from Pakistan into Afghanistan was Afghanistan basically has an agricultural
carrying weapons, material and money.
that all personnel needed to assemble in their
economy, with a big part of that the growing
Most important, these smugglers were
tactical operations center that evening. That was
of opium poppies, which are the raw material
going to deliver their cargo to some Taliban
all we were told, and for reasons of operational
for heroin. In addition to opium poppies,
leaders who had shipped the raw material
security there was little speculation. We knew we
Afghanistan is also the largest producer of
for drugs to Pakistan and were now waiting
would learn more in the TOC.
cannabis (mostly as hashish) in the world.
for their payment. That meant our U.S. Drug
There are few facilities in Afghanistan for
Enforcement Agency, the DEA, was also
INTEL BRIEFING
turning large amounts of that raw material
involved in this mission.
During our intel briefing, we learned that a
into the finished product, so the opium
high-value target—smugglers in a vehicle
poppies and cannabis get trucked to Pakistan
The crux of this mission was capturing these
coming back from Pakistan—would be moving
to be turned into finished drugs.
smugglers so we could interrogate them and
Runners were dispatched, and we were told
have them lead us to the Taliban bosses, who
along a major supply route between Pakistan and Afghanistan that night. This MSR was
In return for this raw material for drugs—which
southeast of Kandahar and was familiar to us.
is a major source of income for the Taliban
were the big fish.
and allows them to buy weapons—the Taliban
Taking out a car full of knuckleheads was easy;
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are somewhat
ships money, manufactured goods and fighters
a drone strike could do that with the press of
primitive countries—Afghanistan much more so
back into Afghanistan. And often the trucks and
a button. We wanted more. We needed a way
than Pakistan—and they don’t have networks
cars coming back into Afghanistan also carried
in the door, to get inside the Taliban’s drug
of highways like the ones we’re accustomed
the piece parts—shaped charges, blast caps,
network. Capturing these smugglers could give
to in the United States. In most cases there’s
detonators and the like—that the Taliban used
us the leads we needed to start tearing down
one way in and one way out, and you could
to make the IEDs (improvised explosive devices)
the Taliban’s supply chain in Kandahar and the
count all the major highways in Afghanistan
that were so feared by our troops.
rest of Helmed Province.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Conner Robbins
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