Opium production in Afghanistan has plummeted since the Taliban banned cultivation of the poppy plant, according to a UN report published on Sunday.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers pledged to wipe out the country’s drug industry, banning poppy cultivation in April 2022.
Poppy plants are the source of opium and heroin. Afghanistan was the world’s biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia before the Taliban takeover.
A mostly unrelated but interesting historical fact about America is that the US interstate highway system is only as awesome as it is because of the need to transport supplies, troops, etc. between military bases and across the country. In fact, the original name was “Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”
It also kinda derailed (metaphorically) our future train system, and I’m sure that’s partly why it’s in such a sad state of disrepair at the moment. we might be less reliant on cars in the US if we had better nationwide train systems and local shares transport (busses etc).
I assume the Autobahn was similar - a way to get through that stretch quickly?
Ah, yes: the DDENSIDH.
It rolls right off the tongue like 10 seconds of cunnilingus.