[This is the 28th in a series of ongoing conversations with a friend in Afghanistan about life under Taliban rule. I am withholding his identity to protect his safety.]
Dear David:
A month ago I traveled to the rural areas of Helmand. Opium poppies were being cultivated everywhere, replacing wheat fields. This increasing poppy cultivation happened simultaneously with the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan.
So it may have seemed surprising recently when theTaliban banned opium poppy farming altogether. Since the ban the price of opium has tripled.
Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), accounting for more than 80 percent of the world's supply.
Although less than four percent of arable land in Afghanistan was used for opium poppy cultivation in 2006, revenue from the harvest brought in over $3 billion—more than 35 percent of the country's total gross national product (GNP). Less than 20 percent of the $3 billion in opium profits actually goes to impoverished farmers, while more than 80 percent goes into the pockets of Afghan's opium traffickers and kingpins and their political connections.
Much of the opium is grown in Helmand province, which accounted for 39 percent of the world's illicit opium production in 2000, according to the US State Department. In 2001, the Taliban announced a ban on poppy farming via threats, forced eradication, and public punishment of transgressors. The result was a 99 percent reduction in the area of opium poppy farming in Taliban-controlled areas, roughly three-quarters of the world's supply of heroin at the time.
Under the Afghan government supported by the Western countries from 2001-2021, opium cultivation thrived and theTaliban used opium money to fund their two-decade campaign to retake Afghanistan.
So why ban it now? Unlike in 2000, when opium was the main source of their income, now the Taliban can access funds from many sources, including international trade, harbor taxes and foreign aid. Plus the Taliban is using opium just like the education of girls as a bargaining chip in order to achieve recognition by foreign governments and therefore legitimacy.
Banning opium gets good press overseas. And it gives the country’s new rulers some leverage as they try to consolidate their power.
TODAY’s NEWS (60):
Russian Missile Attack Kills Dozens at Railway Station in Eastern Ukraine (WSJ)
At least 39 people were killed and 87 wounded when two rockets hit a railway station in eastern Ukraine packed with evacuees, Ukrainian authorities said, as the region braced for a major Russian offensive. (Reuters)
Strike kills 50 at Ukraine rail station crowded with people (AP)
Witnesses describe grisly scene that includes Russian words ‘For the children’ on missile (WP)
Congress voted to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and ban Russian oil, an economic lifeline for Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine. Hours later, Russia launched a rocket attack on a Ukraine train station that served as a civilian evacuation point, killing dozens and wounding more than 100. [AP]
Russia’s war dead belie its slogan that no one is left behind (WP)
The European Commission chief and the EU's top diplomat arrived in Kyiv to offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy support and reassurance over his bid for EU membership in a capital gradually reviving after Russia pulled back forces. (Reuters)
Experts set to travel to Ukraine to identify the war’s dead (AP)
‘He Is a Child of War’: Giving Birth Amid Chaos in Ukraine — As artillery shells fall, pregnant women are delivering prematurely, being shuttled in and out of bomb shelters or having babies in basements without even a midwife to help. Tens of thousands more are displaced. (NYT)
Russia gave its most sombre take yet on the six-week long war in Ukraine, describing the "tragedy" of rising troop losses and the economic pain of sanctions, as Ukrainian authorities rushed civilians out of the way of a looming big offensive in the east. (Reuters)
In eastern Ukraine, Russian military razing towns to take them over (WP)
US speeds entry for Ukrainians as more reach Mexico border (AP)
UK joins US in imposing sanctions on Putin’s daughters (Guardian)
Ukraine said it aimed to establish up to 10 humanitarian corridors to evacuate trapped civilians, but civilians trying to flee besieged Mariupol will have to use private vehicles. (Reuters)
U.S. quietly paying millions to send Starlink terminals to Ukraine, contrary to SpaceX claims (WP)
NATO eyes in the sky, keeping Europe out of Russia’s war (AP)
A Ukrainian mom scribbled her contact info on her daughter's back as the war erupted (NPR)
Six weeks of devastation and defiance as world grapples with the crisis (BBC)
West Moves to Curb Russian Coal and Trade Over Ukraine War (NYT)
Expulsion of Russian ‘diplomats’ may strangle Moscow’s spying (WP)
Global food prices rise to highest ever levels after Russian invasion (Guardian)
VIDEO: ‘Evil Came’: The Toll of Russia’s Occupation in Kyiv’s Suburbs (NYT)
Lacking the strength and courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, they (Russians) are cynically destroying the civilian population." (Volodymr Zelenskiy, Ukraine President/Reuters)
New U.S. sanctions target Russia ship builder and diamond mining company (NPR)
Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist, was attacked in Russia (NPR)
Meta reports surge in cyberattacks after Russian invasion of Ukraine (NHK)
Why Ukraine Is Winning — Ukraine’s success illuminates a strategy that has allowed a smaller state to—so far—outlast a larger and much more powerful one. (Atlantic)
VIDEO: Senate Confirms Judge Jackson to the Supreme Court (AP)
A Transformative Justice Whose Impact May Be Limited — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will help make the Supreme Court look like the nation but will have little power to halt its rightward trajectory. (NYT)
With Jackson, a new version of the Supreme Court takes shape (WP)
What to do if you test positive for COVID at this point in the pandemic (NPR)
Shanghai announced a record 21,000 new cases and a third consecutive day of COVID testing as a lockdown of its 26 million people showed no sign of easing and other Chinese cities tightened curbs - even in places with no recent infections. (Reuters)
Interest-Rate Surge Ripples Through Economy, From Homes to Car Loans (WSJ)
Inflation hits nonprofits’ services, ability to fundraise (Chronicle of Philanthropy)
The macro-economic picture is deteriorating fast and could push the U.S. economy into recession as the Federal Reserve tightens its monetary policy to tame surging inflation, BofA strategists warned in a weekly research note. (Reuters)
The child tax credit was a lifeline. Now some families are falling back into poverty (NPR)
Pakistan’s Supreme Court Blocks Imran Khan’s Move to Stay in Power (NYT)
The Afghan women who laid it all on the line for the U.S. — The Afghan all-woman platoon that served a vital function for American troops in Afghanistan is being resettled in the U.S. — but what comes next is anything but clear.
Writer Amanda Ripley takes us inside the Platoon, their harrowing journey out of Afghanistan as Kabul fell and their surreal resettlement in the United States, where the 39 Afghan women rent apartments, take MMA classes and hold jobs at Chick-Fil-As and daycare centers. The story is a glimpse into the challenges of resettling the 76,000 Afghan evacuees living in America and a reminder that ordinary-seeming people often have unbelievable stories to tell.(Politico)
After a week of political chaos in Pakistan, more turmoil lies ahead (NPR)
Alabama passes bill making some transgender healthcare a felony (Reuters)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would still support Donald Trump if he's the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, despite having previously called him "practically and morally responsible" for the Jan. 6 insurrection. Asked if there's anything a GOP nominee could do to lose his backing, McConnell couldn't find an answer. [HuffPost]
Proud Boys leader pleads guilty to role in Jan. 6 conspiracy (Politico)
Republicans face a test of extremists' power in Idaho's primaries (NPR)
New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a court to hold Trump in contempt and fine him $10,000 per day for failing to meet a March 31 court-imposed deadline to submit documents related to her ongoing civil investigation into his business practices. Meanwhile, the Manhattan district attorney said his criminal probe into Trump is still alive, despite a leadership shakeup. [AP]
F.B.I. Preparing to Investigate How Classified Material Went to Trump’s Home (NYT)
Scientists detect record-breaking 'megamaser' 5 billion light-years away. (Space.com)
Google Meet will kick you out if you're the only person in the meeting (Engadget)
Lego wants to build a kid-friendly metaverse — The next evolution of the Internet, a communal cyberspace where people could virtually play, shop and hang out. Lego’s partnering with Epic Games — the company behind cultural phenomenon “Fortnite” — to create a virtual worldwhere kids can play safely, but we don’t know many other details yet. (WP)
Why Homes of the Future Will Have Spaces for the Metaverse (WSJ)
Rejuvenation of woman's skin could tackle diseases of ageing (BBC)
Pink Floyd to release first new music in 28 years in support of Ukraine (CNN)
More than a thousand book titles, most addressing racism and LGBTQ issues, have been banned from U.S. classrooms and school libraries in the last nine months, many under pressure from conservative parents and officials, the writers' organization PEN America said. (Reuters)
Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped again last year. It declined to 76.60 years in 2021, according to a new analysis.That’s down from 76.99 in 2020 and 78.86 in 2019. Life expectancy hasn’t improved despite effective coronavirus vaccines. Last year’s drop came largely among White Americans, which could be tied to vaccine hesitancy and resistance to pandemic restrictions, the report said. (WP)
Is there a clear trend of crime getting worse in San Francisco?According to the data, not exactly. The Chronicle analyzed statistics from the first quarter of the year, comparing the numbers with the same period years earlier, to see what’s changed in recent years.Some violent crime has declined during COVID, and the numbers show that rapes, robberies and assaults are all lower than they were four years ago in 2018. But homicides are still higher than they were before. Property crimes are seeing a drastic change, too. Burglaries and larceny theft have declined to pre-pandemic rates, but motor vehicle thefts and shoplifting are on the upswing.See the data analysis. (SFC)
The Friendship Researchers Who Are Also Friends — “In our writing, it got to the point where we could no longer remember who wrote which sentences, or who came up with this or that idea.” (Atlantic)
Our Golden State soundtrack (California Today)
Neighborhood Rallies To Designate Pothole As Historic Landmark (The Onion)
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