WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa),
Co-chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, today sent a
letter
to President Biden urging him to create a comprehensive counternarcotics
strategy following the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
“Terrorist
activity and the drug trade in Afghanistan are inextricably intertwined. The Taliban
controls the movement of illicit drugs in Afghanistan and uses the proceeds to
finance its war against the Afghan government, the United States, and our
partner nations… With fewer U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan, the
Taliban’s strength has grown and it now controls about half of Afghanistan’s
419 districts, more than double what it controlled in May of 2021.1”
Grassley wrote.
“It is important to consider the impact
that American troop removal will have on the cultivation and insurgence of the
global heroin market. This is particularly pressing in light of the staggering
number of overdose deaths in the United States. The CDC recently released
numbers that over 93,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses in 2020.2
Opioids, like heroin and fentanyl, accounted for 69,710 of these deaths.3”
Grassley continued.
Grassley has long been a leader in efforts
to curb the importation and spread of illegal, deadly drugs into the United
States. Most recently, he
introduced legislation to
extend a Drug Enforcement Administration authority aimed at preventing the
spread of fentanyl analogues, and called on the
Senate and
Biden administration to
develop a long-term solution on fentanyl knockoffs. He’s also
requested updates on
the Administration’s plan to combat deadly analogues and pushed for them to be
a
central focus in the Administration’s
crime and drug strategy.
Full text of the letter can be found
HERE.