March 16, 2012: Last year, an Afghan Air Force officer (colonel Ahmed Gul) killed eight U.S. Air Force officers in Afghanistan. An investigation into that incident ran into another investigation: of Afghan Air Force aircraft being used for drug and weapons smuggling. Ahmed Gul, it turns out, was being suspected of being involved in drug and weapons smuggling and the eight Americans he killed were among the investigators. Ahmed Gul committed suicide after the killings, and at first it was believed he was a radicalized Afghan going on jihad. But that sort of thing doesn't usually include suicide. A true jihadist goes down fighting. Ahmed Gul was apparently dirty and died to protect his cronies and any cash he had stashed away.

The Afghans deny that there is any such misuse of their aircraft to move illegal drugs and weapons. In any country where there are a lot of drugs being smuggled, air force officers are a prime target for bribes to help move the goods. Most refuse, but some do not.