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.
The chinese get to sell more fentanyl.
Didn’t the previous government ban opium production?
How could the Taliban expect to succeed where the previous government did not?
/s
Now, how am I going to get any sleep without my nightly opium hit?
Chinese selling Fentanyl.
I call this natural selection.
Democrats we don’t need.
and the CIA lost their poppy farms.
Yeah right. What this means is stop until they control it. Then it’ll be OK.
They’ll still vote Democrat either way though
Yeh right...It’s a huge money maker. Never happen.
It might cut down on the “homeless” population.
Good luck with that Tally Bahn!
They don’t need the income anymore.
Xiden will give them Foreign Aid and the Chinese will pay for Mineral Exploration.
The Taliban will be fine.
Pretty sure they did shut it down last time they were in charge. It came back when they lost power, it is the one positive of the Taliban.
You mean we’re on the wrong side all along?
I’m skeptical of this news.
And now we see the rest of the story.
Yeah, let’s bail out of Afghanistan. Let’s hang our citizens and allies to dry. F’ human rights and women. Let’s give the Taliban $100 billion in state of the art weapons and let’s establish good relations with them.
Why?
Because the Taliban will be entering into an exclusive, secret, non-competition contract with the Deep State to be the sole distributor of heroin throughout the world.
Think about it. A conservative estimate of the global illegal heroin trade is $500 billion to $1 trillion. When you add in the “legal” heroin trade of pharmaceuticals, it is in the trillions.
As always, follow the money.
When the Chinese get there they’ll take over the Opium Trade...
I think that this is pure bovine excrement. It is BANNED FOR USE IN AFGHANISTAN, BUT shipping will continue unabated, to the West.
Where would crack head hunter get his stash?
Now, the water-carrying for Buy-dung begins...
this codespeak for.
the Taliban wants a bribe
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.