United States Forces had Seized 50 Tons of Opium

Joint operations and United States forces in Afghanistan had seized 50 tons of opium and killed 17 Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan. Defense Ministry spokesman in Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Azimi, said the amount of opium was seized most of the operations had been done before. Price 50 tons of opium was estimated to reach five million U.S. dollars. In a joint operation which lasted five hours, the soldiers parachuted from a helicopter into Kajaki District, Helmand province, the source of most of the world's heroin. "We confiscated and destroyed 30 tons of fertilizer, 1,000 cartridges of AK-47 rifles and machine guns and other weapons," Azimi said.

He added that a bomb-making factory-controlled bomb from a distance also destroyed. "Seventeen Taliban insurgents were killed, three people were arrested. The combined forces also destroyed a factory for making heroin," he said. He said the fertilizer that was destroyed is one type of fertilizer used to make bombs (IED), the main weapon in the arsenal of the Taliban and the cause of many deaths among the troops under the command of U.S. and NATO. This year has more than 400 foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan, that number more than in 2008.

Helmand province is one of the most vulnerable areas in Afghanistan. Heroin produced there helped fund the Taliban to supply weapons. Afghanistan produces about 90 percent of the world's opium used to make heroin sold in black markets of Europe and Central Asia. UN calls Afghan drug exports around 3.4 billion dollars per year and Afghan officials say the profits of drug sales that the Taliban have 100 million dollars per year.