Nine homeless drug users shot dead in Afghan capital: police

[Kailash Kumar]

Nine homeless drug users shot dead in Afghan capital: police

Abdul Qadir Sediqi

FEBRUARY 16, 2020

KABUL (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead nine homeless drug users in the Afghan capital, officials said on Sunday, shining a light on chronic drug abuse in the world’s biggest producer of opium but a rare incident of apparently coordinated violence against addicts.

The motive for the Saturday night attack by the unidentified gunmen in Kabul was not known and police said they were investigating. The men had been sleeping in an open area and a forensic examination had shown they were drug users.

“The shooting took place at the side of the Qrough mountain,” a spokesman for Kabul police, Ferdaus Faramarz, told Reuters.

There are an estimated 2.5 million drug users in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Public Health says, with most thought to addicted to heroin made from opium poppies grown in Afghanistan.

Some 20,000 drug users are homeless, with half that number in Kabul, at times straining relations with residents of some communities.

“It’s a social crisis,” said Dr Shokoor Haidari, deputy of the ministry’s counter drugs department.

The ministry can only treat 40,000 people a year but far more seek help, said Haidari.

Lack of social services, unemployment and easy access to drugs have fueled drug abuse in Afghanistan, Haidari said.

Harsh winter weather killed at least 50 homeless drug users in the past two months, the Ministry of Public Health said.

Afghanistan has been the world’s biggest producer of opium for years despite some $8.9 billion spent since 2002 by the U.S. government to stop production and trafficking in narcotics.

With compelling economic incentives and politically protected networks - from cultivators to producers and distributors - deeply entrenched, officials say there is little they can do to stop it.

The Interior Ministry this month announced the arrest of five top police officials, including the head of Kabul’s counter-narcotics force, for suspected involvement in drug trafficking.

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[jamahir]

There are an estimated 2.5 million drug users in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Public Health says, with most thought to addicted to heroin made from opium poppies grown in Afghanistan.

Some 20,000 drug users are homeless, with half that number in Kabul, at times straining relations with residents of some communities.

I am sure the very empathetic and intellectual members of the Taliban have a ready solution for this drug epidemic and the issue of homelessness.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

I am sure the very empathetic and intellectual members of the Taliban have a ready solution for this drug epidemic and the issue of homelessness.

During taliban regime. Production of poppies and drugs was banned.

Now Afghanistan is the top supplier of heroine.

 

[jamahir]

During taliban regime. Production of poppies and drugs was banned.

Now Afghanistan is the top supplier of heroine.

Some years ago I had read the some members of the Taliban have a deal with the American military in which the Taliban forces farmers to grow opium which is then transferred by the Taliban into American hands who then sends it off to American and from there to the international market.

Sounds like a false conspiracy theory ?? Well, I believe it to be true.

But my previous question still stands. What is the Taliban solution for homelessness and drug use ??

 

[Khanivore]

But my previous question still stands. What is the Taliban solution for homelessness and drug use ??

Since India is so concerned - as you are too - for the welfare of Afghanistan and India enjoys warm ties with their brotherly puppets in Kabul, what has the Indian government done for the drug users and the homeless of Afghanistan since 2001?

 

[jamahir]

Only they can tell. What is your solution for drug and homelessness? If government has money then it can send drug addicts to rehabilitation centers but if government is poor then there is no solution.

The basis of the drugs problem is that the men in Afghanistan have nothing constructive to do. That should be addressed. How ?? Well, Afghanistan should adopt a Progressive political-economic system in which each member of the country needs to contribute. That will give them constructive activity.

Secondly, about your point about national poverty, I believe that the country has many mineral ores ready to be exploited. Afghanistan should push the West-oriented government out of power and NATO out of the country. The country should immediately get Russian help in mineral mining.

The money that will be obtained should be put to develop the country as a Socialist welfare state in which there will remain not a single homeless person.

The political, social and economic guidance for the country can be given into the hands of the SPA movement ( Solidarity Party of Afghanistan ) which is a Socialist movement.

Since India is so concerned - as you are too - for the welfare of Afghanistan and India enjoys warm ties with their brotherly puppets in Kabul, what has the Indian government done for the drug users and the homeless of Afghanistan since 2001?

I do not speak for the Indian establishment and I agree that the Indian establishment has not contributed to the real and lasting betterment of Afghanistan.

As for my concern, please read my above reply to Brass Knuckles.

 

[jamahir]

I think India has many times more drug addicts than Afghanistan.

Yes, India too has a drugs problem but I don't know the percentage compared to Afghanistan. But a percentage comparison shouldn't matter. Even ten people addicted to drugs should be considered a major problem.

And why you bring socialism everywhere?

Simply because it is the solution to every kind of political-economic-social problem. Even Western states apply some form of Socialist welfare state system.

You should ask your government to open rehabilitation centers in Kabul and should open panah gahs for homeless people.

Tell me, why should some homeless people live in panah gahs while the rest of the population lives in their own personal homes ??

 

[Khanivore]

I do not speak for the Indian establishment and I agree that the Indian establishment has not contributed to the real and lasting betterment of Afghanistan.

As for my concern, please read my above reply to Brass Knuckles.

We both know that as long as the Taliban wander around in Afghanistan, the Kabul government will have a tough time to govern in peace. Look at the amount of firepower the Taliban face from a combined force of NATO and 18/19 years later, the damn Taliban are have negotiations with the US.

Back to your pressing question: I think you know the outcome already.

 

[jamahir]

We both know that as long as the Taliban wander around in Afghanistan, the Kabul government will have a tough time to govern in peace.

True.

And what I said earlier was that the current Kabul government is not really an appropriate one. I will say that the SPA movement should have a chance to govern.

Look at the amount of firepower the Taliban face from a combined force of NATO and 18/19 years later, the damn Taliban are have negotiations with the US.

I think that NATO is not being entirely serious in tackling the Taliban. NATO seems not to have a good intelligence system, for example. I say NATO should exit the country and Russia should enter.

OK, I am logging-off to go to sleep. Please leave your reply.

 

[Khanivore]

And what I said earlier was that the current Kabul government is not really an appropriate one. I will say that the SPA movement should have a chance to govern.

I think that NATO is not being entirely serious in tackling the Taliban. NATO seems not to have a good intelligence system, for example. I say NATO should exit the country and Russia should enter.

OK, I am logging-off to go to sleep. Please leave your reply.

There should be a unified government, a united government that allows the Taliban some say too but in return the Taliban should lay down their arms. I think this is the only way to keep Afghanistan peaceful and finally let Afghanistan rebuild and prosper as a nation. Good ties with Pakistan are a must or Afghanistan will remain landlocked and disadvantaged. I think NATO should back a united government and then withdraw from the country. It's too risky to let the Russians in. Kremlin will try to control Kabul.

 

[Omar Al-Deek]

I am sure the very empathetic and intellectual members of the Taliban have a ready solution for this drug epidemic and the issue of homelessness.

Aren't you a Communist?

 

[TNT]

I am sure the very empathetic and intellectual members of the Taliban have a ready solution for this drug epidemic and the issue of homelessness.

There was no drug problem in taliban time. They had a very strict law and its only taliban that could enforce the law. Growing opium was banned, also drug isers were dealt harshly and that is why id hardly find any drug abusers.

I think that NATO is not being entirely serious in tackling the Taliban. NATO seems not to have a good intelligence system, for example. I say NATO should exit the country and Russia should enter.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, billions of dollars every year expenses, all latest weaponry and u call that non serious? Haha Russia?? Russia wont enter Afghanistan again in a 1000 years. Russian memories of USSR in Afghanistan are still fresh. There was a time when the US wanted russia to assist in Afghanistan but Russians clearly said no. The US n afghan govt is also requesting india to send some forces but even india is not willing.

 

[Sheikh Rauf]

Since India is so concerned - as you are too - for the welfare of Afghanistan and India enjoys warm ties with their brotherly puppets in Kabul, what has the Indian government done for the drug users and the homeless of Afghanistan since 2001?

They use them against Pakistan anything indians doing in Afg is ultimatily against Pak thats the only focus.

 

[jamahir]

There should be a unified government, a united government that allows the Taliban some say too but in return the Taliban should lay down their arms. I think this is the only way to keep Afghanistan peaceful and finally let Afghanistan rebuild and prosper as a nation. Good ties with Pakistan are a must or Afghanistan will remain landlocked and disadvantaged.

Agreed.

I think NATO should back a united government and then withdraw from the country. It's too risky to let the Russians in. Kremlin will try to control Kabul.

Well, the original problem was created by NATO in the 80s so NATO should exit without delay.

Then, I believe Russian assistance will be more suited to Afghanistan culturally than any Western one. I mean, I believe that many Afghans will be more comfortable with Russia than with the West.

Aren't you a Communist?

A Socialist, yes.

I was being sarcastic in that post.

There was no drug problem in taliban time. They had a very strict law and its only taliban that could enforce the law. Growing opium was banned, also drug isers were dealt harshly and that is why id hardly find any drug abusers.

Maybe earlier but from what I have read about now, the Taliban have been forcing farmers to grow opium.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, billions of dollars every year expenses, all latest weaponry and u call that non serious? Haha Russia?? Russia wont enter Afghanistan again in a 1000 years. Russian memories of USSR in Afghanistan are still fresh.

Russia resolved the Chechnya issue. Maybe it can resolve this issue similarly.

And I believe Russian assistance will be more suited to Afghanistan culturally than any Western one. I mean, I believe that many Afghans will be more comfortable with Russia than with the West.

 

[TNT]

Russia resolved the Chechnya issue. Maybe it can resolve this issue similarly.

And I believe Russian assistance will be more suited to Afghanistan culturally than any Western one. I mean, I believe that many Afghans will be more comfortable with Russia than with the West.

Russia is a big power so it should and it is playing a role. Just not militarily anymore. The russians are infact helping taliban, they have sensed the strongest party and are betting on it. Recently the biggest arms donor to taliban has been russia and china.