[KhaamaPress] The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that Afghanistan produced the majority of global illicit opium production in 2022, which makes 80%, despite the Taliban ...Arabic for students... ’s ban on opium cultivation in April last year.
The report released a day before the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, said that the supply and trafficking of illegal drugs, including cocaine and methamphetamine, have increased dramatically worldwide, including in Afghanistan.
The report said, "The 2023 opium harvest in Afghanistan may see a drastic drop following the Taliban’s ban, as early reports suggest reductions in poppy cultivation. The benefits of a possible significant reduction in illicit opium cultivation in Afghanistan in 2023 would be global. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... it will be at the expense of many farmers in the country who do not have alternative means of income generation."
According to recent UNODC figures, there will be over 296 million drug users worldwide in 2021, a 23% rise from the previous ten years. Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory, Igor and Oleg were discussing what the quickest way might be to deal with the monster... 39.5 million people worldwide have drug use problems, a 45% increase in ten years.
The World Drug Report 2023 also emphasises how social and economic injustices both cause and are caused by drug problems, the destruction that illicit drug economies make to the environment and human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... , and the increasing dominance of synthetic drugs.
"Time is needed to determine whether trends hold and the effect that may have on global heroin markets, especially those sourced by opium from Afghanistan."
"Afghanistan is also a major producer of methamphetamines in the region, and the drop in opiate cultivation could drive a shift towards synthetic drug manufacture, where different actors will benefit," The report noted.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime is dubious about "the connections between the illegal manufacture of heroin and methamphetamine in the country and whether the two markets will develop in parallel or whether one will eventually replace the other."
However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... the Islamic Emirate’s front man Zabiullah Mujahid said that there has been no new survey about the poppy cultivation in the country.
"It has been two years since the cultivation of poppy has been banned. I am sure that even one percent has not been cultivated, if it was cultivated, it has been eliminated. It means that in 2023 we have absolutely cleaned Afghanistan of cultivation of poppy... the 80 percent claim is not correct," he said.
In a separate report released by the UNODC, it said that Afghanistan is home to an estimated 3.5 million drug users, a number that accounts for nearly 10 percent of the total population.
"Since political change in August 2021, most drug treatment and rehabilitation centers in the country are struggling to remain operational due to resource limitation," the report said.
#1
20 November, 2021 Afghan Opium Processed In Pak Before Hitting Int'l Mkt, Motivating Narco-terrorism: After the Taliban takeover, Afghan heroin flooding the global markets and motivating narco-terrorism has emerged as a fresh threat, EFSAS report claims. -----
If Afghanistan does manage to limit production the Pakistan rice bowl will be broken. Then, how will the Pakistan military ISI be paid?
#2
It will just raise the price. The ISI will make similar or more money. Seizing a higher percentage of shipments after Pakistan would inconvenience them most.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/27/2023 12:24 Comments ||
Top||
[VOA] For more than 15 years, Qari Baryal has been on a special list of Washington’s "most-wanted" Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... and al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan, accused of carrying out bombing and suicide kabooms across the country.
Baryal and the bully boyz he oversaw were "involved in the supervision of IED [improvised bomb] production, suicide personnel allocation, and overall attack planning and execution" in Kabul and surrounding provinces, according to U.S. military reports.
In November 2021, two months after U.S. and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban appointed Baryal as the governor of Kabul province. In March 2022, he became the provincial governor for Kapisa province, northeast of Kabul.
Baryal is among those listed in a recent United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... report as one of the Taliban’s leaders "affiliated" with al-Qaeda. Besides Baryal, Nuristan Governor Hafiz Muhammad Agha Hakeem and Tajmir Jawad, the Taliban’s deputy director of intelligence, are also listed in the report.
"With the patronage of the Taliban, al-Qaeda members have received appointments and advisory roles in the Taliban security and administrative structures," the U.N. Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team said in the report earlier in June. It called relations between the Taliban and al-Qaeda "strong and symbiotic."
According to the report, an estimated 400 al-Qaeda gunnies were in Afghanistan, and there are signs that the terrorist group "is rebuilding operational capability."
The Taliban rejected the report, calling it "biased and far from reality."
U.S. officials have long expressed skepticism over Taliban claims that they have distanced themselves from al-Qaeda. When a U.S. drone killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ...Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodox al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra... last July, he was found living in a home in a central neighborhood of the capital, Kabul.
The U.S. said his presence there demonstrated the Taliban had broken the 2020 Doha Agreement signed by the U.S. and the Taiban. By hosting and sheltering the al-Qaeda leader, the Taliban violated commitments to not allow bully boyz in Afghan territory threaten the security of other countries.
The Taliban "will send a clear message that those who pose a threat to the security of the United States and its allies have no place in Afghanistan," the agreement stated.
Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA that by appointing "double-hatted" al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, including Baryal, who killed American troops, the Taliban "are openly flouting" the so-called peace agreement.
These appointments show that the Taliban "are not concerned about the perception of the international community," Roggio said.
He said the Taliban "always lied" about their ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and that the group’s statements cannot be "trusted."
Roggio said Afghanistan could again become a training hub for the terrorist group.
"This is everything that al-Qaeda can hope for. They have safe haven. They have support from the Taliban, who are in full control of the country," he said.
But some experts do not think the country is becoming a magnet for imported muscle.
Sami Yousafzai, a journalist who covered Afghanistan for years, told VOA he believes al-Qaeda members now in Afghanistan are mainly Arabs, with just a few Afghan Taliban members who joined "out of necessity."
"They had contacts with al-Qaeda since they were living there, and they were protecting al-Qaeda as they paid them," he said.
Other regional experts say the region’s long military conflict between the Taliban and U.S.-led forces created loose alliances among regional militia groups.
Rahmatullah Andar, the former front man for Afghanistan’s National Security Council, told VOA that the Taliban groups in the districts have been hosting al-Qaeda members for more than 20 years.
"Therefore, it is difficult to separate them. Not only with al-Qaeda but also with the Pak Taliban," he said.
Andar added that some Afghans were working with al-Qaeda, but there were also some who were group members.
"They have the same worldview, the same goals and the same approach," he said.
Back in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province, Baryal now posts Facebook videos showing his outreach to the local community as the Taliban government’s official representative.
[OneIndia] India on Monday summoned a senior diplomat of the Pakistain High Commission and lodged a strong protest over the recent incidents of attacks on Sikh community members in that country, PTI reported citing sources.
The diplomat has been conveyed that Pakistain should ensure the safety and security of its minorities who live in "constant fear of religious persecution". This is the fourth such attack on Sikhs in Pakistain between April and June.
In the fourth incident, a Sikh man identified as Manmohan Singh who was rubbed out on Saturday by unidentified gunnies in the Yakatoot area of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... , the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistain, according to a report in Hindustan Times.
It came a day after a Sikh shopkeeper was injured after unidentified gunnies fired at him in the same area of Peshawar.
In a statement, the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... took credit for the liquidation of Manmohan Singh, portraying him as a practitioner of the "polytheistic" Sikh faith. The same statement also acknowledged their involvement in the assault on another Sikh individual the day prior.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/27/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[18 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Shafaq News] The Forensic Medicine Department of Iraq's Ministry of Health announced on Monday the handover of 39 cases of remains belonging to Yazidi victims who were killed by ISIS militants. The remains were returned to their families after undergoing laboratory testing and DNA examinations.
In a statement, the department stated that a delegation from the mass graves department delivered the cases to the families at the Forensic Medicine Department in Nineveh Governorate.
Dr. Shahd Aref Hamed Al-Sultan, the department's director, confirmed that the remains were matched in a laboratory. DNA examinations were conducted to establish their identities in coordination with the relatives.
"All necessary data has been completed, and death certificate procedures are handed over with each case," Dr. Al-Sultan added.
Sinjar has been the site of more than eighty mass graves, where thousands of Yazidis were killed and abducted during ISIS's invasion of the area in 2014.
The systematic targeting and persecution of Yazidis by ISIS drew international outrage and prompted military interventions to counter the extremist group's brutal campaign in Iraq and Syria.
Identifying the remains found in mass graves remains a challenging and complex task, requiring the expertise of forensic specialists and cooperation between government agencies and international organizations.
Efforts to locate and exhume mass graves in Iraq continue as part of broader initiatives to document and prosecute those responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses committed during ISIS's reign of terror.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/27/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[22 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
[Rudaw] Iraq has completely paid off all the money it owes to Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... for gas imports throughout the years, announced officials on both sides on Sunday, as Baghdad seeks to reduce its over-reliance on Iranian natural gas for power.
Ahmed Mousa, spokesperson for the Iraqi electricity ministry, told Iraqi state media that the ministry has paid off all its debts for gas imports from Iran, adding that the money has been deposited in a trust fund at the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI).
"The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity has paid all its gas arrears to Iran and this debt is now zero. But sometimes there are problems to transfer money from TBI Bank to Iran," Iranian state media cited Deputy Oil Minister Majid Chegeni as saying.
Iraq’s electrical grid has for years been dependent on gas imports from Iran to run its power generation plants. Earlier this month, Iraq released $2.7 billion of frozen Iranian assets to go towards the gas and electricity debt Baghdad owes to Tehran.
Despite its large oil and gas reserves, Iraq suffers from chronic electricity shortages, especially felt when summer temperatures reach over 50 degrees Celsius.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has repeatedly described improving the country’s energy sector as one of the main priorities of his cabinet, stating on multiple occasions that Baghdad seeks to achieve self-sufficiency in gas and end the import of the natural resource within the next five years.
The Iraqi premier on Sunday inaugurated the first phase of projects to develop and raise the efficiency of operating gas units in eight power stations across the country.
The project, which installs systems to cool down the air entering gas generators, seeks to compensate 797 megawatts of electric power units lost due to the summer heat, according to a statement from Sudani’s office.
Sudani in January signed a memorandum of understanding with the German energy giant Siemens to increase Iraq’s energy production, reduce waste, and maintain energy stability. The contract with Siemens will save Iraq 30 percent of maintenance costs.
Iraq and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... signed an electricity interconnection agreement last year, which will see Baghdad linking its electric power grid with the Gulf, implementing a memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries earlier the same year.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/27/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
Creating more facts on the ground, even if someday the houses might be traded to the Palestinians for a real peace treaty — not that the smart money is placing any bets that the Palestinians suddenly choose common sense.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli authorities advance plans for some 5,700 new settlement homes, shattering in just six months the record for most West Bank housing units for Israelis greenlit in a single year.
The 13,056 homes that have now been advanced through a pair of major planning stages thus far in 2023 surpasses the previous record of 12,159 homes, which were greenlit in 2020 when Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... was US president and his administration proposed a peace plan that envisioned Israel annexing all of its West Bank settlements.
The number of homes advanced today is also more than the 4,427 advanced in all of 2022, when a more moderate unity government was in power that was more willing to heed to the Biden administration’s warnings against further entrenching Israel’s presence in the West Bank.
The Biden administration yet again speaks loudly and carries a wet noodle.
US State Department front man Matt Miller is asked during a press briefing for comment on Israel’s advancement of plans to build 5,700 new settlement homes in the West Bank.
Miller does not appear to have a new statement prepared on the latest development; instead, he says, "I will reiterate our longstanding position which we have said publicly from this podium. Privately, we say this directly to Israeli officials — that we believe that settlements are an impediment to a negotiated two-state solution along 1967 lines, which ultimately we believe is the best way to resolve the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict."
Pressed again for comment, Miller repeats the statement that his office issued last week when Israel announced that it would be making the settlement construction advancements.
Miller says the US is "deeply troubled" by the moves and "opposes such unilateral actions that make a two-state solution more difficult to achieve."
Lots of photos. Someone might want to start files for future use in a decade or two, when these yoots have been moving up the ranks for a while.
[IsraelTimes] Young Paleostinians parade and brandish fake rifles as they are instructed on combat against the ’Zionist enemy’ at Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... camp
As they do every year, terror groups in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip are operating summer camps for the Paleostinian enclave’s youth that includes military-style training in preparation to fight against Israel.
As part of Paleostinian Islamic Jihad’s activities, young Paleostinians parade and train with fake rifles and are instructed on jihad against the "Zionist enemy."
In previous years, children were taught to stab and stone Israeli police in order "to liberate al-Aqsa," while instructors lionized those who fall as "deaders" against the enemy.
"These boys are trained in various ways to defend their rights in their territory and homeland," PIJ official Darwish al-Gharabli told AFP. "Hundreds have participated in the camps of the al-Quds Brigades, the camps of glory and pride, ensuring that jihad and resistance will continue."
[IsraelTimes] Newly declassified reports by Israeli diplomat on negotiations show Damascus demanded commitment to full Israeli withdrawal from Golan, refused to promise diplomatic ties in return.
Translation: “First you surrender completely, then we’ll be willing to discuss the details.” owonder Israel walked away. And now, coached by Biden administration officials, Saudi Arabia is offering something similar.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/27/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[19 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[NPASyria] Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), a local watchdog, found the widespread use of torture by Ottoman Turkish-backed factions against civilians living in occupied regions of northern Syria. The report says that Kurds were particularly targeted for abuse.
The torture is based on first-hand testimonies of 62 residents of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in north of Hasakah and Tel Abyad in north of Raqqa, two cities The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... and its allied Syrian National Army (SNA) occupied in 2019. The invasion displaced around 100,000 residents from the region and killed scores of civilians. The STJ had released a similar report back in 2021.
The organization says it found "blatant targeting of Kurds." One surveyed victims describes how when they "arrived in Ras al-Ayn [...] At one of the military checkpoints, armed members opened the door of our bus. They asked whether any pigs (in reference to Kurds) were in the bus [...]. None of us dared declare our ethnicity, fearing a likely assault. We crossed seven checkpoints. At several of these barriers, the personnel showered Kurds with insults."
Yet Arabs were not spared abuse. 46 of the collected testimonies belong to Kurds, the STJ says, 16 to Arabs.
Several victims describe being subjected to torture, including being "beaten across the body, [...] slapped on the face, bunched, or kicked. Others narrated that they were hit with sticks or with rifles’ butts or flogged with thick cables or plastic pipes, locally known as ’Lakhdar Brahimi’. A number recounted that they were electrocuted, given burns, or subjected to the al-Shabeh with a Dolab (tire), or Farouj (chicken on a spit) torture techniques."
The torture targeted mainly men, though at least seven women also underwent torture. Others recount being threatened with rape. Five victims were over 70 years old.
In most cases, the witnesses say, the SNA factions charged them with collaborating with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), affiliation with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) or planning attacks. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... "victims’ accounts demonstrate that the actual reasons that propelled the arrests and torture were primarily monetary. The testimonies corroborate that the gangs initiated the arrests to financially blackmail the victims, coerce them into paying them ransoms, and ultimately force them to abandon their properties and flee their home areas," according to the STJ.
The watchdog also recorded the SNA militias involved, where possible. Three groups — namely, the Hamza Division, the Sultan Murad Division, and the Mu’tasim Division — were responsible for nearly two-thirds of all reported cases of torture and arbitrary arrest (40 out of 65). This is notable, as these three groups are concentrated in Kurdish-majority Sere Kaniye, whereas other SNA factions control the Arab-dominated Tel Abyad region. The split further denotes an implicit anti-Kurdish policy in how torture is being applied.
Several victims quoted in the report say torture was applied as a tool to displace residents or dissuade them from reclaiming property lost to the SNA militias during the 2019 invasion. " The only purpose of the arrest and torture was to force me into fleeing the area," one Sere Kaniye resident says. " One of [the turbans that arrested me], a Kurd from A’zaz, said, ’Spare yourself and just escape. They would not let you live if you remained here.’ It was when I left [the city], never to return. They continue to provoke me. They film themselves in my house and ask me for an impossible ransom of nearly $5,000 just not to burn it down."
More torture statistics for the UN’s special torture day:
[NPASyria] The Monitoring and Documentation Department announced on Monday that 53 people were tortured to death after they were arrested by the parties to the conflict in Syria since the beginning of 2023.
This came with the advent of The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... International Day in Support of Victims of Torture that marks June 26.
12 people including a troop were killed by the Syrian government, 22 people including three women at least were killed by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS), 3 people were killed by the Ottoman Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), one person was killed by the Iranian-backed militias, and three people were killed by the Ottoman Turkish forces.
The Department recorded the killing of 12 people including three children and three women under torture after they were kidnapped by unknown parties.
"26 June is an opportunity to call on all stakeholders including UN Member States, civil society, and individuals everywhere to unite in support of the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have been victims of torture and those who are still tortured today," says UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
[Shafaq News] The European Council on Monday said it would add seven individuals in Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... to the EU's sanctions over human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... violations.
The new listings include prosecutors responsible for trials against executed protesters, the council said, and a regional commander of the Revolutionary Guard who oversaw actions against protesters
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Arabic for 
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
