January 2013: A cache of 1,000-year-old documents written by the Jewish community in Afghanistan were revealed in Jerusalem this January 2012. The documents provide insight into medieval Jewish communities in central Asia. The collection was reportedly discovered by chance in a cave inhabited by foxes approximately two years ago in northern Afghanistan.

The dry climate of the cave preserved the papers, keeping them in excellent condition. This is the first ever documentation of the religious, cultural and commercial life of the Jewish community in a central location on the trade route between China and the West. It also contains unseen commentary by 10th century commentator Saadia Gaon on the book of Isaiah

Academic director of the National Library of Israel, Professor Haggai Ben-Shammai, stated that “until now, we had no documents testifying to the presence of Jews” in this part of the Persian cultural domain. This is the first time we have a large collection of documents representing the culture of the Jews who lived there” at the beginning of the 11th century. The collection is rich with documents, some in Arabic and some in Hebrew script in the Judaeo-Persian dialect, which was prevalent at the time, and also in Hebrew and Arabic.”

The Afghan “Geniza,” the Hebrew term for ritual Jewish disposal of documents with religious significance which cannot be thrown out but must be buried, contains hundreds of papers currently held by collectors and dealers around the world. The national library displayed the 29 items it had acquired from the cache to the media, after obtaining them from a dealer in Jerusalem. The library is preparing to make the documents available online in order to make them accessible worldwide.

September 2011: Forensic examination of the remains of suicide bombers who carried out terror attacks in Saudi Arabia revealed they were injected with heroin before blowing themselves up.

Dr. Yusuf Rumaih informed Saudi newspaper Al Watan officials in Riyadh that the samples of remains of the terrorists to three foreign countries, indicated the results showed the presence of heroin in their bodies.

Rumaih stated this indicated the drug allowed them to “commit suicide with indifference as they were promised paradise with virgins.”

Rumaih stated terrorist planners frequently use sexual lures to recruit youth for suicide missions, in addition to easy access to anesthesia and heroin to drug them.

Reports of suicide bombers being injected with pain medication or heroin have been reported in other terrorist hot zones, such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

Terrorist organizations often have copious quantities of opium and heroin on hand, the trade of which provides a major revenue stream for terror insurgencies and operations.

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February 20.2011: The Afghan-Canadian governor of Kandahar has ordered a crackdown on the cultivation of opium after the United Nations urged him to stop the unabated growth of poppy production in his province. Tooryalai Wesa stated people caught growing opium would face a prison sentence of one year.

It is illegal in Afghanistan to grow opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin. But the law is viewed by many farmers as more of a nuisance than deterrent and has been widely ignored for years by some police officers. Attempts at eradicating opium in the province have so far failed. But district governors and police chiefs said they were optimistic such efforts would work this year because security has improved.

Wesa met with his district governors and chiefs of police, ordering them to do what they can to eradicate poppy farms amid mounting concerns that more farmers will turn to the illicit but lucrative crop this year. “Poppy cultivation is prohibited in Islam and illegal in the constitution. Therefore, we are supposed to ban this cultivation,” Wesa stated during the meeting at his palace in Kandahar city, according to a statement from his office. “Although poppy cultivation has been reduced in a few districts of Kandahar, it is not enough. We are supposed to bring it to zero and pave the way to award logistical support for the farmers.”

Wesa’s announcement comes a month after the UN released a report warning that a dramatic jump in opium prices could lure more Afghan farmers to grow the narcotic, reversing the hard-won gains against the drug trade in recent years. “This bonanza (for some) may provide farmers with a strong incentive to continue growing opium and even expand cultivation in 2011,” the report stated.

“The significant expansion of cultivation in Kandahar province over the past two years must be stopped and we urge the governor and other partners to play an active role in preventing any further increase and to ensure progress is made in eradication,” the report stated. “Further growth in poppy cultivation in Kandahar would have an adverse effect on other provinces as well.”

There was a 48 per cent plunge in opium production last year mainly due to a plant disease that ravaged crops. That was the likely factor driving the average price of dry opium to US$169 per kilogram, up from US$64 in 2009, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Afghanistan Opium Survey. While opium production fell throughout most of Afghanistan, cultivation in the southern province of Kandahar, where the majority of Canada’s 2,900 troops in the war-torn country are based, surged 30 per cent.

Afghan National Army troops trained by the Canadian military seized 108 kilograms of what was believed to be opium in southeastern region of Panjwaii district. The UN estimates that 25,835 hectares of land in Kandahar province was used to grow opium last year, roughly half the geographic size of Montreal. That’s more than five times the area used to cultivate opium in 2004.

The opium growing season lasts from December to May and is about six times more profitable than wheat. It helps pour cash into the coffers of insurgent groups and is a large factor behind the spike in violence ISAF forces and Afghan civilians encounter during the country’s summer fighting season. With the funds from the trade of opium and other drugs, insurgents pay young, often unemployed men eager for a quick buck to take up arms, plant improvised explosive devices, serve as spies or help their cause in any other way possible.

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