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Tajikistan sees no drop in drug smuggling from Afghanistan

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Tajikistan’s Presidential Drug Control Agency (DCA) says it has not registered any decline in the volume of drug trafficking from neighboring Afghanistan.

Referring to a recent UN Office on Drugs and Crime report, which stated opium cultivation and production had dropped by 95%, a DCA official Mukbilsho Muyassar told the press that opioids are still flowing into Tajikistan.

“According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, opium poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan has decreased by 95%, yet opioids, such as heroin and opium, as well as Afghan-made methamphetamine, are still flowing into Tajikistan, with the reason behind this being that Afghan drug manufacturers generate greater profits from methamphetamine production,” he said.

Russia’s TASS news agency reported that according to recent reports by the DCA, clandestine synthetic drug labs have started to emerge in Afghanistan to produce these drugs, which are then smuggled into Tajikistan and later transported to other countries.

The DCA stated that more than 2.5 tons of illicit substances were seized from circulation in regions of Tajikistan bordering on Afghanistan in 2023, accounting for over half of all drugs seized in the Central Asian country last year.

Muyassar also said Tajikistan has received no information on any counter-narcotics efforts being implemented by Afghan authorities.

Last December, Atageldi Yazlyyev, director of the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Center for Combating Illicit Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and their Precursors (CARICC), also said that despite analysts’ estimates of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan plummeting, the center’s statistics indicated an increase in opium trafficking. He attributed this to the need to dispose of reserves from previous years’ harvests.

The Islamic Emirate has not yet responded to this claim by Tajikistan, but it has repeatedly stated that it has taken serious steps to stop the cultivation and production of narcotics.

In April 2022, the Islamic Emirate banned the cultivation of poppy across the country, promising to prosecute violators under Sharia law. A ban was also imposed on “the use, transportation, trade, export and import of all types of narcotic drugs.”

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Mines ministry says work on TAPI project to speed up as weather improves

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Homayoun Afghan, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, says with rising temperatures in the country, work on the TAPI pipeline project will accelerate. He added that all partners involved in the TAPI project are eager to expedite progress. 

He emphasized that since the launch of the project’s practical work, 1,700 kilometers of the TAPI gas pipeline route have been surveyed, and 9 kilometers of pipeline have already been laid within Afghan territory. 

The ministry officials stated that the expansion of the TAPI project will create hundreds of new jobs for citizens in operational, security, technical, and logistical sectors of the project. 

“First, this project will help create jobs for Afghans. Second, it will strengthen Afghanistan’s economy. Third, we can derive direct positive benefits from this project,” said Mohammad Bani Afghan, an economic expert.

Economic experts further highlighted that once the project is operational, Afghanistan is expected to earn approximately $400 million annually in transit fees. Additionally, the project will spur economic growth and reduce unemployment rates in the country.

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Pakistan to file complaint with UN against IEA and India

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Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram, says Islamabad will submit a complaint to the UN against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and India for “supporting terrorism.” 

In an interview with Pakistani media, Akram alleged that IEA was involved in the attack on the Jaffar Express train.

He claimed, “There is evidence against the Taliban government [Islamic Emirate]. This time, we have traced communications and compiled evidence that we will certainly present. Even previously, if you review the latest report by the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Monitoring Team, it was clear that terrorism originates from Afghanistan, and the government there is involved in this matter.” 

The Pakistani diplomat further accused India of using Afghan soil to promote terrorism. 

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s military spokesperson, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, asserted during a press briefing that terrorists involved in the recent train incident and prior attacks had used weapons of Indian and Afghan origin.

“The terrorists behind the train attack in Balochistan and previous incidents used Indian-made weapons and arms left behind in Afghanistan. We must recognize that the primary backer of this Balochistan terrorist attack and past events is our eastern neighbor [India]. Militants based in Afghanistan have consistently fueled instability in Pakistan,” said Chaudhry.

However, experts argue that Pakistani authorities, grappling with weak governance in ensuring citizen security, are attempting to deflect blame onto Afghanistan to obscure their own inefficiencies. 

Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate has strongly denied any involvement in Pakistan’s security challenges, particularly the recent Balochistan attack, dismissing the allegations as baseless.

IEA has repeatedly urged Pakistani officials not to attribute their domestic security failures to Afghanistan.

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Trump says he would have kept Bagram Air Base

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US President Donald Trump has once again said that if he had remained the president, Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan would have been kept due to its proximity to China.

In his speech on Friday at the US Department of Justice, Trump claimed that Bagram Airfield is now occupied by China.

He also said that the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in the way it was done was “the most humiliating time” in the history of the United States.

“I would have been out faster than them. I was the one that got it down to the right level. but we would have kept Bagram, the big Air Force base. We would have kept it. Right now, China occupies Bagram and the reason we would have kept it is because it is one hour away from where China has and builds its nuclear missiles and weapons,” Trump said.

“And they gave that up in the dark of night, they left the lights on and they left the dogs behind. By the way, a lot of people say what about all the dogs. They had a lot of dogs and they left the dogs behind and what a shame, what a shame. The way we got out, I think it was the most humiliating time in the history of our country,” he added.

Trump said that if he had remained the president, the US would have left Afghanistan “with dignity and strength.”

He suggested the way the US withdrew from Afghanistan probably got Russia attack Ukraine.

The Islamic Emirate has previously rejected Trump’s claim that China has seized Bagram Airfield.

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