4 ms·

The Taliban’s Successful Opium Ban Is Bad for Afghans and the World

eliotte 3y ago
Is this a new parody site? Because I am still scratching my head.
- vintermann 3y ago
  Glad to see HN isn't buying this ridiculous take.
- veave 3y ago
  It is not surprising to find CIA propaganda online. This case is particularly glaring, but stuff like this gets shared here daily, and in cases like Russia vs Ukraine just contradicting it gets your comment removed.
- sterlind 3y ago
  it's the "United States Institute of Peace," which is a government institution, somewhere between a think-tank and propaganda division, evidently. think Voice of America, or Radio Free Europe. like, it's literally fully funded by Congress and was set up under the Reagan administration.
hunglee2 3y ago
incredible. What is bad for Afghan's is US seizure of Afghan central bank deposits and full spectrum sanctions regime designed to cripple whatever is left of the economy and further immiserate one of the poorest people on earth.
agtech_andy 3y ago
Only someone with a PhD could come up with a take this bad. The article essentially boils down to a plea to let people grow hard drugs instead of the food they need to eat. "Money" is better than actual usable things they can grow.
- sfn42 3y ago
  Well, it is. If opium is more valuable than food crops, farmers should grow opium. Then they can buy the equivalent amount of food and still have money to spare. That's how the economy works. It's called opportunity cost. You should always create the most valuable thing you can, assuming of course that you can sell all of it.
  - rawTruthHurts 3y ago
    Absolutely. Self-dependence is overrated anyway. If they find no buyer they'll be able make some nice infusions.
    - sfn42 3y ago
      Self-dependence is more of a state-level concern. If the state values self-dependence they can subsidize and otherwise incentivise types of agriculture they prefer. Outright prohibiting a crop obviously also serves that goal but it also weakens the states economy and could cause tensions if farmers lose profits. And there are uses for opium besides street drugs. Opiates are used a lot in medicine.
alpineidyll3 3y ago
What exactly is the motive for this type of disinformation? An effort to foment resistance to the Taliban? Warmongering? A needle to complain about the withdrawal? I can't understand the motivation. What sort of audience is so credulous and naive that they would believe opiate cultivation is the only path to human well being?
- sfn42 3y ago
  In what way is it disinformation? Do you have evidence to counter the information in the article? Or does your train of thought just end at "drugs are bad mkay"?
  - DoItToMe81 3y ago
    The country is on the verge of famine and does not have the resources to treat opiate addicts. Its state assets abroad have all been seized, and its not certain which nations will engage in further sanctions. I don't know in which world miles of illegal poppy for an opiate black market is a good thing, either. I am quite certain if they had left the black market to its own devices, we'd be seeing "WAR ON DRUGS NOW! Taliban terrorists hook your child on heroin" instead.
    - sfn42 3y ago
      Famine can be solved by growing food or buying food. If opium is twice as valuable as potatoes then they could grow opium and buy twice as many potatoes as they could otherwise have grown. Self reliance is important but generally less important than survival. If they don't have resources to treat opiate addicts they don't have to, the addicts are responsible for their own problems. We should try to help if we can but if we can't, we can't. Poppy fields have legitimate uses, they are not just for producing street drugs. Heroin, morphine, codeine and others are products of the opium poppy and all of them are used medically. I also doubt this prohibition will make much difference in terms of drug addiction, they will get their drugs one way or another just like everywhere else.
    - hulitu 3y ago
cinntaile 3y ago
Quite a few poppy farmers in Mexico are also out of a job because of fentanyl, you can just make it in a lab and you don't have to grow anything.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
terryliveson 3y ago
While I am not a fan of the War on Drugs, butting into a country's internal affairs screams colonialism.

Is this a new parody site? Because I am still scratching my head.

vintermann 3y ago
Glad to see HN isn't buying this ridiculous take.
veave 3y ago
It is not surprising to find CIA propaganda online. This case is particularly glaring, but stuff like this gets shared here daily, and in cases like Russia vs Ukraine just contradicting it gets your comment removed.
sterlind 3y ago
it's the "United States Institute of Peace," which is a government institution, somewhere between a think-tank and propaganda division, evidently. think Voice of America, or Radio Free Europe. like, it's literally fully funded by Congress and was set up under the Reagan administration.

incredible. What is bad for Afghan's is US seizure of Afghan central bank deposits and full spectrum sanctions regime designed to cripple whatever is left of the economy and further immiserate one of the poorest people on earth.

agtech_andy 3y ago

Only someone with a PhD could come up with a take this bad. The article essentially boils down to a plea to let people grow hard drugs instead of the food they need to eat. "Money" is better than actual usable things they can grow.

sfn42 3y ago
Well, it is. If opium is more valuable than food crops, farmers should grow opium. Then they can buy the equivalent amount of food and still have money to spare. That's how the economy works. It's called opportunity cost. You should always create the most valuable thing you can, assuming of course that you can sell all of it.
- rawTruthHurts 3y ago
  Absolutely. Self-dependence is overrated anyway. If they find no buyer they'll be able make some nice infusions.
  - sfn42 3y ago
    Self-dependence is more of a state-level concern. If the state values self-dependence they can subsidize and otherwise incentivise types of agriculture they prefer. Outright prohibiting a crop obviously also serves that goal but it also weakens the states economy and could cause tensions if farmers lose profits. And there are uses for opium besides street drugs. Opiates are used a lot in medicine.

alpineidyll3 3y ago

What exactly is the motive for this type of disinformation? An effort to foment resistance to the Taliban? Warmongering? A needle to complain about the withdrawal? I can't understand the motivation. What sort of audience is so credulous and naive that they would believe opiate cultivation is the only path to human well being?

sfn42 3y ago
In what way is it disinformation? Do you have evidence to counter the information in the article? Or does your train of thought just end at "drugs are bad mkay"?
- DoItToMe81 3y ago
  The country is on the verge of famine and does not have the resources to treat opiate addicts. Its state assets abroad have all been seized, and its not certain which nations will engage in further sanctions. I don't know in which world miles of illegal poppy for an opiate black market is a good thing, either. I am quite certain if they had left the black market to its own devices, we'd be seeing "WAR ON DRUGS NOW! Taliban terrorists hook your child on heroin" instead.
  - sfn42 3y ago
    Famine can be solved by growing food or buying food. If opium is twice as valuable as potatoes then they could grow opium and buy twice as many potatoes as they could otherwise have grown. Self reliance is important but generally less important than survival. If they don't have resources to treat opiate addicts they don't have to, the addicts are responsible for their own problems. We should try to help if we can but if we can't, we can't. Poppy fields have legitimate uses, they are not just for producing street drugs. Heroin, morphine, codeine and others are products of the opium poppy and all of them are used medically. I also doubt this prohibition will make much difference in terms of drug addiction, they will get their drugs one way or another just like everywhere else.
  - hulitu 3y ago

cinntaile 3y ago

Quite a few poppy farmers in Mexico are also out of a job because of fentanyl, you can just make it in a lab and you don't have to grow anything.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

terryliveson 3y ago

While I am not a fan of the War on Drugs, butting into a country's internal affairs screams colonialism.