The list, which included up to 750 people at times, proves for the first time that NATO didn't just target the Taliban leadership, but also eliminated mid- and lower-level members of the group on a large scale. Some Afghans were only on the list because, as drug dealers, they were allegedly supporting the insurgents.
The classified documents could now have legal repercussions. The human rights organization Reprieve is weighing legal action against the British government. Reprieve believes it is especially relevant that the lists include Pakistanis who were located in Pakistan. "The British government has repeatedly stated that it is not pursuing targets in Pakistan and not doing air strikes on Pakistani territory," says Reprieve attorney Jennifer Gibson. The documents, she notes, also show that the "war on terror" was virtually conflated with the "war on drugs." "This is both new and extremely legally troubling," says Gibson.Nobody has ever attacked America from Afghanistan's territory. But that little fact doesn't matter in the twisted minds of criminal drug dealers in the CIA and the White House. September 12, 2001 was like Christmas morning for them. Father Crack had come to town.
After thirteen years in Afghanistan, the crime bosses in Washington and NATO took the drugs and left the terrorists. It's a good way of doing business.
