Kabul
Al Qaida has been selling Afghan heroin and using the proceeds to buy weapons, Time Asia reported this week. Unnamed Western officials told the magazine that prominent drug lord Juma Khan, who has close ties to Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar, had been using a fleet of cargo ships to move Afghan heroin from Pakistan to the Middle East and Europe. The ships return loaded with weapons, including plastic explosives and anti-tank mines, destined for Taliban and al Qaida fighters. Afghanistan’s opium crop this year is expected to exceed 3,600 tons—the biggest harvest since 1999— with a street value of around $36 billion.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
'We should all ask ourselves: When we laugh, who's hurting?'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
IDF blames 'error' for strike on Gaza water lineSpeed Read Israeli forces attack Palestinians, including children, collecting water in central Gaza
-
The FTC is pushing back against false 'Made in USA' claimsThe Explainer The agency has dubbed July 2025 "Made in the USA" month
