The Heroin Sting: Operation Southern Flood, Day II

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.

Images of US Marines, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Afghan National Interdiction Unit raid narcotics labs in Afghanistan's Nimruz province as part of an effort to interdict heroin trafficking. Nimruz, Afghanistan. 02/03/2010.

The combined task force arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the hope of interdicting heroin before it reached the local bazaar.

With the probability of unreliable intelligence, and the unmissable arrival of the large convoy to the area last night, the chance of catching anyone seemed dubious. The NIU and DEA agents shifted from one compound to the next questioning the inhabitants and searching.

These were the houses of poppy farmers. They reported a bad crop this last season. It had been a cold winter, but March is the traditional planting time for the June harvest.

The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is believed to be implicitly linked to the insurgency, as well as many other counter-stability activities.

During their time in power, the Taliban imposed a ban on the poppy crop, backed by ruthless measures. Yet within a matter of months they reversed the decision, turning to it as a source of valuable revenue to fund their campaigns against the Northern Alliance.

Still, a few of the Marines did not see the point of a mission that would potentially damage peoples livelihoods, whilst having little direct impact upon the insurgency.

The agents, lead by the DEA team, were after the opium and heroin traffickers, not the poppy farmers. To do so would be to invite mass insurrection.

Compound after compound, all claim not to know where the heroin was processed. In such close knit communities and tribal ties, business can often be a family affair. Outsiders can only glimpse the structure.

Searching finally yielded results as a large opium processing plant was discovered in a nearby compound, containing huge quantities of base chemicals and apparatus used in heroin production.

NIU agents kicked down the doors to discover warm rooms and piles of ash that DEA agents believed to be opium, burnt within the last 24 hours. It seemed whoever had been here knew we were coming.

DEA agents calculated that a lab this size alone could produce 100kg of heroin per day. At $60,000 per kilo bulk value in the USA that is a sizable amount of trade. Actual treet value would be much higher.

This was the largest lab that the DEA agents had ever seen. Most strikingly, unlike other provinces in Afghanistan, nothing was hidden.

Until our arrival, there had been no need to. This was the first time ISAF had stepped into this lone corner of western Nimruz. Likewise the local ANP are suspected to not interfere in the opium trade out of implication or agreement.

Continued searching of other locations revealed two more similar facilities. In one, 22 Afghans were blocked before they could escape.

They stood, facing the wall with looks of worry on their faces as agents tolled up the narcotics. Some were as young as 14. Three men, informed to be the managers of the lab were detained after refusing to name their boss. The rest of the workers were released.

Interesting was their fellow Afghan NIU agents diligence to ensure that detainees were given water and the workers had their jackets before they left.

With three labs destroyed the task force withdrew back into the desert, swallowed by a billowing dust storm.

It had been along day but had already made the operation a huge success within the terms of what it set out to achieve.

Yet it seems today's interdiction effort has only scratched the surface of a trade in a region whose economy evolves around the poppy.

The DEA works independent from all other agencies in Afghanistan. Yet if we are to see any real long term success in eradicating heroin production in Afghanistan, ultimately such measures will have to be coordinated with agricultural initiatives that provide a sustainable alternative for the farmers.