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Taliban Move to Ban Opium Production in Afghanistan
Wall Street journal ^ | 8-28-21 | Sune Engel Rasmussen, Zamir Saar and James Marson

Posted on 08/31/2021 6:37:32 PM PDT by dynachrome

Edited on 08/31/2021 6:52:39 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]

Taliban leaders, seeking international acceptance after seizing power in Afghanistan, have told farmers to stop cultivating opium poppies, residents of some major poppy-growing areas say. This has caused raw opium prices to soar across the country.

In recent days, Taliban representatives began telling gatherings of villagers in the southern province of Kandahar, one of the country’s main opium-producing regions, that the crop—a crucial part of the local economy—would now be banned.

This followed a statement by Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid at an Aug. 18 news conference in Kabul that the country’s new rulers won’t permit the drug trade. Mr. Mujahid at the time didn’t offer details of how the Islamist group intends to enforce the ban.

Local farmers in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helman provinces said raw opium prices have tripled, from about $70 to about $200 per kilogram, due to uncertainty about future production. In the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the opium price has doubled, residents there said. Raw opium is processed into heroin.

The Taliban have long been one of the narcotics industry’s top beneficiaries, using taxation of the drug business to finance their 20-year insurgency, Western governments say. Afghanistan accounts for some 80% of the world’s illicit opiates exports, and the poppy-planting season starts in about a month.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; drugtrafficking; fakenews; gwot; heroin; isi; jamesmarson; kandahar; opium; rop; suneengelrasmussen; taliban; talibandrugs; terrorfinancing; wod; wsj; zamirsaar
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To: dynachrome

Problems with heroin in the US market may lead to the line in Live and Let Die: “That will make certain ——families ——unhappy.”
“Unhappy? It will make them absolutely livid.”


21 posted on 08/31/2021 7:10:34 PM PDT by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
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To: RockyTx

The Taliban gets 10% and the Big Guy gets 10%—and it is back to business—oh wait, they call it Build Back Better!


22 posted on 08/31/2021 7:11:37 PM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: dynachrome

I still say America should grow their own and start exporting. China and Mexico cartels will starve and think of the Opium Den franchises!

I’m almost 100% serious. Look at how much the government is bending over for addicts and enable them. May as well profit ourselves, Plus a cleaner, safer product.


23 posted on 08/31/2021 7:12:29 PM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: BenLurkin

“How could the Taliban expect to succeed where the previous government did not?

They are trying to succeed in a different way. The opium poppy is the key source for many narcotics to include morphine and codeine, major used pain killers by hospitals throughout the world. By banning its production, it will cause pain killer prices to skyrocket and the market won’t sustain it. And as they are the largest poppy farming space in the world by country, it will kill the market.

Ever watched Trading Places and the use of the frozen orange juice concentrate market? Well, watch this,

wy69


24 posted on 08/31/2021 7:15:04 PM PDT by whitney69
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To: Steve_Seattle

Maybe the Taliban will see that all poppies get sent to flower shops only. No more of that drug stuff.

They already eradicated homosexuality and 99% of Christianity. And kicked thousands of Americans and their military out as of yesterday afternoon. And banned music including killing a folksinger. They get things done./S


25 posted on 08/31/2021 7:15:43 PM PDT by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
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To: LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget

And the CCP controls the Golden Triangle. (If you’re old enough you’ll get the reference).


26 posted on 08/31/2021 7:20:42 PM PDT by packagingguy (Kit)
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To: dynachrome

The poppies are easy to see from the air. We’d be flying along and see a sea of red. The Taliban have a bigger Air Force than 85 percent of the countries out there, thanks to Dementia Joe. So finding poppy fields won’t be hard at all.


27 posted on 08/31/2021 7:27:31 PM PDT by AlaskaErik (In time of peace, prepare for war.)
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To: dynachrome

The CIA is going to be pissed... They just got their business whacked...


28 posted on 08/31/2021 7:28:31 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: rellic

“Chinese selling Fentanyl. I call this natural selection.
Democrats we don’t need.”

A Daily Mail article posted yesterday 6-7 people died of fentanyl overdose in one day on Long Island.

You could tell by their photos they were all far left liberals. None of them looked like winners.


29 posted on 08/31/2021 7:28:48 PM PDT by setter
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To: dynachrome

Ought to be interesting ... the CIA will not be happy ... bet they convince the Taliban to give them a monopoly with a big cut for themselves.


30 posted on 08/31/2021 7:29:15 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Biden not only suffers fools and criminals, he appoints them to positions of responsibility. )
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To: dynachrome

Yep.


31 posted on 08/31/2021 7:29:41 PM PDT by CJ Wolf ( what is scarier than offensive words? Not being able to say them...God wins. Trump always wins. . )
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To: Sacajaweau

Actually they once had it almost completely eradicated and were going grains. But that wasn’t going to fly with our corrupt government so we went in to save the Poppies...


32 posted on 08/31/2021 7:31:47 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: RetiredTexasVet

Yep...


33 posted on 08/31/2021 7:32:15 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: dynachrome

Operation Mosquito


34 posted on 08/31/2021 7:33:15 PM PDT by Theoria
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To: setter

Cept that as a bowepon it is worse then anthrax or the cina flu.


35 posted on 08/31/2021 7:33:59 PM PDT by CJ Wolf ( what is scarier than offensive words? Not being able to say them...God wins. Trump always wins. . )
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To: dynachrome
Mr. Mujahid at the time didn’t offer details of how the Islamist group intends to enforce the ban.

Gee, I dunno how they'll do that.

Maybe $83 Billion Dollars worth of premium grade U.S. of A. military equipment will help!?

36 posted on 08/31/2021 7:45:56 PM PDT by TigersEye (I won't get vaxxed because it endangers Mitt Romney's life. )
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To: whitney69

None of the opium produced in Afghanistan is used in the legal market for Rx pain killers.

https://www.deamuseum.org/ccp/opium/production-distribution.html


37 posted on 08/31/2021 7:58:52 PM PDT by TigersEye (I won't get vaxxed because it endangers Mitt Romney's life. )
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To: TigersEye

83 billion? That could be 4 gender neutral military grade toilets and an automatic purell dispenser in bidens military.


38 posted on 08/31/2021 8:01:06 PM PDT by CJ Wolf ( what is scarier than offensive words? Not being able to say them...God wins. Trump always wins. . )
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To: BenLurkin

“How could the Taliban expect to succeed where the previous government did not?”

Religious fervor combined with first-class weaponry.


39 posted on 08/31/2021 8:06:16 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie (When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.)
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To: dynachrome

The CIA is gonna be pissed!


40 posted on 08/31/2021 8:07:43 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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