2y ago

Afghanistan: Opium supply drops 95% after Taliban drug ban

www.dw.com Afghanistan: Opium supply drops 95% after Taliban drug ban – DW – 11/05/2023

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers pledged to wipe out the country's drug industry, banning poppy cultivation in April 2022. Afghanistan was the world's biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia.

Opium production in Afghanistan has plummeted since the Taliban banned cultivation of the poppy plant, according to a UN report published on Sunday.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers pledged to wipe out the country's drug industry, banning poppy cultivation in April 2022.

Poppy plants are the source of opium and heroin. Afghanistan was the world's biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia before the Taliban takeover.

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They managed to do what the Americans haven't managed in two decades. As much as I hate the taliban for being religious extremists, they did a good thing with this one.
- Yeah of course, with the full backing of Sharia to make it happen. Authoritarians are usually highly effective, the problem is that they'll most likely control the supply by growing their own and then collaborate with cartels to turn it into a profit source.
  The royal family of Saudi Arabia is a bunch of coke addicted alcoholics but you get killed for using drugs there (unless you run the place.) It isn't about morality for them and it won't be for the Taliban.
- And Hitler built the Autobahn, he's my hero too!
  
  A mostly unrelated but interesting historical fact about America is that the US interstate highway system is only as awesome as it is because of the need to transport supplies, troops, etc. between military bases and across the country. In fact, the original name was "Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways."
  It also kinda derailed (metaphorically) our future train system, and I'm sure that's partly why it's in such a sad state of disrepair at the moment. we might be less reliant on cars in the US if we had better nationwide train systems and local shares transport (busses etc).
  I assume the Autobahn was similar - a way to get through that stretch quickly?
  
  Ah, yes: the DDENSIDH.
  
  It rolls right off the tongue like 10 seconds of cunnilingus.
- I imagine they use a type of Islamic justice to punish anyone that breaks this law. It's hard to run a farm when your workers have no hands. Believe it or not the US really was attempting to provide stability in the region (amongst other things), and yes we did many terrible things while we were there, we eventually we realized the futility of the situation.
  For those who lack understanding of why it's has such strategical significance, here's a bit from Wikipedia:
  Afghanistan is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east.
  So of course tensions run high. But they haven't had a single century of stability since... checks notes...
  • Hotak dynasty 1709–1738
  • Durrani Empire 1747–1823
  • Emirate 1823–1839
  • Restoration of the Durrani Kingdom 1839–1842
  • Restoration of the Emirate 1842–1926
  • Dost Mohammad unites Afghanistan 27 May 1863
  • Anglo-Afghan Agreement 26 May 1879
  • Independence 19 August 1919
  • Kingdom 9 June 1926
  • Republic 17 July 1973
  • Democratic Republic 27–28 April 1978
  • Islamic State 28 April 1992
  • Islamic Emirate 27 September 1996
  • Islamic Republic 26 January 2004
  • Restoration of Islamic Emirate 15 August 2021
  At least a few centuries.
  Yes we committed atrocities in the name of the "war on terror" but it seems people forget the country is now run by The Taliban and it seems like there's a lot of support for them. This group of militant nationalists who believe women should only be there to bear children, raise children, and if those children are female? rinse and repeat. Dress how you want or attempt to learn something not directly related to wifely/motherly duties? That's a lashing. Do it multiple times? That's an honor killing.
  
  It blows my mind how quickly auth-leftists in the west who froth at the mouth over christo-fascists don't realize that this is the Muslim version of that but with actual government power.
  It's everything they hate, yet there's praise for their actions despite it being blatant religious authoritarianism.
  
  Making something part of your identity that you don't truly comprehend, just because all your friends are doing it. A tale as old as time.
  Well, maybe. I think some pre-tech civilizations had it more figured out than others. Many Inuit and Native American tribes seem to have known a thing or two about raising intelligent, confrontation-adverse, self-reliant humans as quickly as possible, out of necessity. There was a study I read some time in the last decade that made some solid points about pre-agricultural societies likely being more egalitarian. Also out of necessity I would imagine. However we also have documented evidence that this is not always the case, see this amazing video of first contact -
  
  .
  Edit: for some reason the YouTube video link isn't showing up. https://youtu.be/xd0I1xAICOc
  
  They ran the country before we got there, too.
  Turns out Afghans just have a terrible culture.
- They opened the door for even more fentanyl to take the place of actual heroin, something that will cost countless lives. I'm having trouble seeing how that is a good thing.
- America wasn't trying to stop opium production, we were using druglords to beat warlords. The brother of the leader we installed was the kingpin.
- It's not about religion.
  When we entered Afghanistan we actually forced farmers to make poppy to sell to drug companies. We're cheering this but what it means is a likely short supply of morphine in the coming years.

68 comments