America gave Afghanistan weapons when it withdrew on purpose. It wasn't incompetence. America is also currently massively funding Afghanistan through Qatar and other means. You can look up the list of mega projects and infrastructure Afghanistan is doing but this canal should be sufficient: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6q_e94Ixb8.
But why?
Are they going to have the Afghans invade Iran and link up with ISIS elements in Syria and Iraq? Maybe also destabilize countries near Russia such Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan?
Whatever the end goal is, it's not going to be pretty and it probably pushes the establishment of greater Israel project.
Opium/heroin?
Obviously, US will not have any chance to somehow revive opium manufacturing in Afganistan if it will not present in Afganistan. So, if military presence failed, they will try investment one or whatever.
As for all that ISIS and other stuff, just recall that Taliban was 100% founded and financed by US to oppose USSR military on the side of Afganistan government. But eventually, Taliban, when they grow up and acquire self-conscioness and their own interests turned into US enemy. So to keep ISIS shit running, US+Israel either have to hire extremely dumb locals, either face the same result as with Taliban.
Meddling into exUSSR Middle Asia countries is senseless, because it will only add more disgust and hate toward US+Israel among whole region.
Methods of interfering in regions, where US/UK/Israel can't have any business at all, become more and more dumb and so more obvious and insolent, that even goat herders could now clearly see them immidiately. Total bankruptcy of the West in terms of real things needed by countries in region make things worse.
So, looking at China/Russia success in investing real into Middle Asia, US tries to jump on that train to keep some influence in region. However, US have nothing except green paper, but at the same time think they could demand different shit incompatible with Middle Asia mentality. This makes prospects of US investments doomed.
If only US could restore its manufacturing and engineering schools along with return to traditional society values that made US great in the past and invest with real things...
They could plant opium in a number of areas. Pakistan is also controlled by the Americans through (ISI) and they can plant there if they wanted to and they have a number of options in south America and even the Sinai of Egypt.
Looks like they are attempting a bigger ISIS 2.0 but it's one of those things that are still brewing.
May be some fashion thing or specific variety of poppies? Like coke grow anywhere, but somehow Columbia prevail.
When you make v2.0 things you usually try to make them better than v1.0. This v2.0 looks like awfully designed and awry manufactured replica made in a hurry just in attempt to prove mostly to themselves they still could make such things.
Making cocaine is labor intensive and not very safe for the workers. They put the leaves in gasoline and stomp on it with bare feet. Remove the leaves and dispose of them in an environmentally unfriendly way. Then something about chemically removing the gasoline from the solution in an environmentally unfriendly way. Pretty toxic really. If people knew how it was made, they would probably stop using it. Columbia is probably one of only a few places they could get away with the process.
About same as extraction of many pretty legal substances from plants for pharma and cosmetic industry. Just with bare hands (feet) instead of industry machinery.
Looks like Columbia just have enough poor people ready (or forced) to participate in illegal production.
Or just synthesize fentanyl...