While the Taliban successfully eliminated poppy cultivation in 2000, the U.S. invasion in 2001 saw a massive resurgence in opium production that eventually supplied 90% of the world's heroin. The Pentagon prioritized alliances with corrupt warlords who managed the drug trade to maintain military control and counterinsurgency efforts. Furthermore, the resulting heroin surge served as a geopolitical weapon to destabilize rivals like Russia and Iran through widespread addiction crises. Linked video goes into detail

[…] an unrelenting stream of well-sourced, detailed stories has suddenly appeared, documenting multiple failures by [Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu] to either heed warnings [on 2023-10-07] of a possible Hamas strike, or to seize early opportunities to rescue the hundreds of hostages taken by the terrorist group.

What gives the story an electrifying geopolitical edge is that the revelations over the last month have come from some of the most powerful figures in the Middle East, including senior figures from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, multiple Israeli defence and intelligence sources, and sources in the United States.

Netanyahu has branded as "lies" the stories that include details of secret flights and covert phone calls. But tellingly, other governments have not denied them.

Brett Wilkins Jun 16, 2025

Flight-tracking websites showed dozens of Air Force aerial refueling planes departing from military bases in the United States and heading to Europe on Sunday, fueling speculation of direct U.S. involvement in the widening Israeli-Iranian war.

Military-focused news sites reported that around 30 U.S. Air Force KC-135R and KC-46A tankers were identified by flight-tracking software in what The Times of Israelcalled an "unprecedented mass deployment" to Europe.