Taliban suffer $4m financial loss as F-18s bomb drug labs in Helmand

Carrier-based U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets conduct a strike on multiple Taliban narcotics production facilities in Helmand province on December 7, 2017, as part of an ongoing campaign by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and United States Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) to cut off the Taliban’s economic lifelines and degrade their ability to continue operations,” the US Forces Afghanistan said in a statement.

The statement further added that the strike was one of several, conducted overnight, that contributed to the destruction of nearly $4 million in direct Taliban revenues.

A video purportedly showing the bombing of one of the facility was also published online by the US forces.

This comes as the commander of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission and the US forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Nicholson said last month that the attacks on Taliban financial engine will continue as heavy losses have been inflicted on the group and its associated in recent raids.

“In just over three days’ worth of operations, the Afghan 215th Corps, their special forces commandos, their air force, in close cooperation with U.S. forces, removed between $7 million and $10 million of revenue from the Taliban’s pocketbook,” Gen. Nicholson said.

He also added “And the overall cost to the drug trafficking organizations approached $48 million. So these strikes were just the first step in attacking the Taliban’s financial engine, and they will continue.”