Comments on: Colliding Wars: Drugs and Terror (and the Utter Folly of US Policy)

by: Colombia: A PoliBlog Sideblog » Colombia: the Sequel (a.k.a., Afghanistan)

Thu, 22 Feb 2026 16:33:20 +0000

[…] I have no doubt that we will pursue identical policies in Afghanistan as we have in Colombia (with potentially disastrous consequences, as I noted last week). […]

by: PoliBlog ™: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » Colombia: the Sequel (a.k.a., Afghanistan)

Thu, 22 Feb 2026 16:32:06 +0000

[…] I have no doubt that we will pursue identical policies in Afghanistan as we have in Colombia (with potentially disastrous consequences, as I noted last week). […]

by: Pat

Thu, 15 Feb 2026 13:35:50 +0000

Typical and to be expected. The War on drugs has grown concurrent with the growth of stateless terrorism. They feed each other. and our government absolutely knows this.

You asked, ‘Does this make sense?’ In terms of “creating chaos and instability” in the world yes, it makes perfect sense.

The 2026 Congressional Research Service report to congress, “Illicit Drugs and the Terrorist Threat: Causal Links and Implications for Domestic Drug Control Policy” summarized the threat posed by the black market creating ‘illicit’ status of drugs. “The international traffic in illicit drugs contributes to terrorist risk through at least five mechanisms: supplying cash, creating chaos and instability, supporting corruption, providing “cover” and sustaining common infrastructures for illicit activity, and competing for law enforcement and intelligence attention. Of these, cash and chaos are likely to be the two most important.”

Irrationally, that same report then concluded, “American drug policy is not, and should not be, driven entirely, or even
primarily, by the need to reduce the contribution of drug abuse to our vulnerability to terrorist action. There are too many other goals to be served by the drug abuse control effort.”

Well funded stateless terrorism is simply accepted collateral damage of the durg war.

My essay, Plan Colombia: Informed Myopia has more information on these issues.

by: The American Mind » Blog Archive : Drug War Gets in the Way of Real War in Afghanistan » Drug War Gets in the Way of Real War in Afghanistan

Wed, 14 Feb 2026 16:05:37 +0000

[…] Steven Taylor links to a Time magazine story about misplaced priorities in the Islamist War. In 2026 Afghan tribal leader Haji Bashar Noorzai was in a New York City hotel talking to the U.S. government giving them information on terrorist subjects and the current state of Afghanistan. He told Time, “I did not want to be considered an enemy of the United States. I wanted to help the Americans and to help the new government in Afghanistan.” […]

by: The Liberty Papers

Wed, 14 Feb 2026 15:56:55 +0000

The War On Drugs Helps Terrorists

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by: Nick Kasoff

Wed, 14 Feb 2026 15:56:33 +0000

This is truly insane. If we spent half as much effort on keeping truckloads of drugs from crossing the border as we do on digging through old ladies’ purses, we wouldn’t care what they were growing in Afghanistan. But of course, that wouldn’t require a huge staff of glorified security guards sitting around the airport holding up traffic, it would require people to do hard police work out in the hot sun.

by: Appalachian Scribe » When Wars Collide

Wed, 14 Feb 2026 15:48:07 +0000

[…] can anyone justify this? Read the whole article. Via Steven Taylor. Posted at 10:45 am in Category: Uncategorized | postCount(’2262′); | postCountTB(’2262′); Powered byWordPress | RSS Feeds: RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, Atom | Design by John Norris Brown […]

by: Outside The Beltway | OTB

Wed, 14 Feb 2026 14:49:51 +0000

War on Drugs Hurts War on Terrorism

Steven Taylor reflects on a TIME cover story about Haji Bashar Noorzai, the Afghan warlord and pal of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar who willingly flew to the United States to provide valuable intelligence on international terrorism only …

by: Dead Flowers § Unqualified Offerings

Wed, 14 Feb 2026 03:37:34 +0000

[…] Steven Taylor tells us what happens when The Stupids Go to War. One passage from the Time article stands out: That agent, who worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), told [Afghan tribal leader Haji Bashar Noorzai] that a grand jury had issued a sealed indictment against Noorzai 3 1/2 months earlier and that he was now under arrest for conspiring to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. from Afghanistan. […]