Editing Air America (section)

==Afghanistan and the Bank’s Peak==
As the Vietnam War ended, the CIA shifted focus to Afghanistan, where the Soviet invasion in 1979 provided a new theater for covert operations (Charlie Wilson’s War, p. 288). The agency, under Operation Cyclone, funded mujahideen rebels, including [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]], a known heroin trafficker (The Politics of Heroin, p. 476). Afghan opium production tripled between 1979 and 1982, capturing 60% of the U.S. and European heroin markets (Whiteout, p. 260). 

The Nugan Hand Bank, with its global network, likely facilitated the laundering of these profits, though direct evidence is scarce (The Great Heroin Coup, p. 221). In Australia, the bank’s operations drew attention. Murray Riley’s 1978 arrest for smuggling Thai marijuana and heroin exposed its role in drug money laundering (The Great Heroin Coup, p. 276). By 1979, the bank was under investigation, with Australian authorities uncovering its ties to CIA operatives and drug networks (In Banks We Trust, p. 70).