A 10 x 40min Podcast Series from
hosted & created by Max Walker
Host and Creator, Max Walker of Ironbark Media sharing lunch with Afghan Tribal Elders.
This is a story all of us know, but none of us really know. Until now. This is the story of the Afghan War.
Drugs fuelled so much of the fighting in Afghanistan, yet everyone from poppy farmer to President relied on them. 50% of the Afghan economy was drugs. And 90% percent of the world’s opium now comes from this long-suffering land.
But a small band of American, British and allied counter-narcotics cops tried to change that. They launched a series of operations targeting the Taliban’s drug kings, but found so, so much more...
Soon everybody, not just the Taliban, was their enemy.
Ironbark Media’s Max Walker researched the conflict and its characters for a decade, living and working in Afghanistan himself. He tells a story of heroin and heroism in unequal and unexpected doses...
Introducing:
NARCOstan
Afghanistan produces more narcotics than Colombia. True. And when this became apparent in early years of the Afghan War, the US sent some of its best DEA Agents to fight what was already a booming opium business. So too did its closest allies, fearing drugs were fuelling the war, and the terrorists behind it.
Told by those on the front line, this unprecedented and intimate series lays bare the ‘War on Drugs’ in Afghanistan. It uncovers the crime, corruption and complexity of the Afghan War; the kings, the characters, the compromises, the challenges…
… and the courage of those who dared make a change.
Episode 1
The New Colombia
In 2012, when President Obama ordered America begin its ‘drawdown’ from Afghanistan, a police operation was quietly launched in Kabul. Some say it was the most inspired investigation they’ve ever known. Others say it was the most futile. (You be the judge). The target: the Taliban Senior Leadership.
The accusation: they were an organised crime cartel, running a massive drug business exporting opium out of Afghanistan. Leading the mission: Kabul DEA Boss, Mike Marsac, a folksy ‘Fargo-like’ cop from Colorado. He calls the case Operation Reciprocity, and is doggedly determined to get the job done.
But with President Obama’s announcement, he’s now running out of time…
Kabul DEA Boss, Mike Marsac
