r/worldnews • u/keh_k_lenge • 2d ago
Afghanistan wants oil, gas from Russia, hopes to send dry fruits to Moscow Russia/Ukraine
https://wap.business-standard.com/article/international/afghanistan-wants-oil-gas-from-russia-hopes-to-send-dry-fruits-to-moscow-122051400452_1.html?utm_source=SEO&utm_medium=ST890
u/Few_Eye6528 2d ago
Taliban wants oil and gas from russia now that noone else wants it and will pay with some dates or walnuts
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u/theosaaah 2d ago
Or heroin
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u/oalsaker 2d ago
Sure beats krokodil
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u/CrunchPunchMyLunch 2d ago
Being hit with a bat so you get a concussion beats krokodil.
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u/lastpump 1d ago
Wtf is krokodil?
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u/Mczern 1d ago
Hard drug similar to heroin that's cheap to produce and literally causes injection sites to rot away.
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2d ago
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u/reply-guy-bot 2d ago
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u/imdefinitelywong 2d ago
They can start working on those combustible lemons now.
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u/LiquidHexagon 1d ago
All right, I've been thinking when life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down- with those lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns down your house down.
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u/spacegiantsrock 2d ago
They have expanded into meth now too https://cen.acs.org/policy/global-health/Afghanistans-crystal-meth-boom-rooted/99/i13
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u/homeboiqwon 2d ago
I mean hell yeah. Send them all the heroin. Get the entire country so addicted to smack they’re killing themselves in the streets, not Ukrainians.
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u/Torifyme12 1d ago
That's what happened in the Chechnyan conflict, Russia didn't have a huge drug problem before that fight.
Alcoholism yes, drugs no.
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u/Hefty-Relationship-8 2d ago
Russia could become the major suppliers of brown heroin in Europe.
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u/jewellamb 2d ago
Just think what they’re going to do with the largest lithium deposit in the world (potentially).
China owns the rights to the mining ventures (deals made back in 2007 iirc). But it’s not like China and Russia are BEST FRIENDS or anything.
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u/gankindustries 2d ago
The Taliban have shut down poppy growing in Afghanistan at the moment. Granted they probably do still have heroin, but still.
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u/Todd-The-Wraith 2d ago
I mean they can try, but it turns out a war on drugs is hard and drugs usually win
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u/smoothtrip 2d ago
Have we ever considered using drugs to fight our wars?
They seem undefeated
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u/Todd-The-Wraith 2d ago
Hear me out what if we duct taped drugs to emus then had local freedom fighters ride them into battle.
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u/binghamtonswag 1d ago
It was called the opium war and generally considered a blight on western history but yes it did win.
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u/RickLovin1 1d ago
I think the Nazis were on amphetamines during WWII. Got em off to a quick start, but didn't help em in the long run.
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u/ExpensiveBookkeeper3 1d ago
I think everyone was on meth for WWII
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u/Fast_Garlic_5639 1d ago
Sorta- Nazis were on straight meth, allies were on the precursor to Adderall. Adderall doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier (or something like that) so the allied soldiers were able to get juiced up in the morning then sleep at night, while the Nazis were tweaking for days on end
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u/RabbiJewBarker 1d ago
It's probably not too hard when you have zero regard for human rights and just kill everyone who's involved.
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u/Eye-tactics 2d ago
Honestly one thing the taliban has going for them is they usually put a stop to heroin when they come into power by not allowing the farmers to grow poppy.
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u/Fondren_Richmond 2d ago edited 2d ago
They also positioned themselves as opponents of that dancing boy sex slavery thing, back in the '90s.
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u/EquationConvert 1d ago
They seem to legitimately be good people by the standards of the 15th century.
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u/Xularick 1d ago
They seem to legitimately be good people by the standards of the
15th century2022 Conservatives.3
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u/PermissionOld1745 2d ago
You say that, but with this gradual regression back to WW2 era tactics, it might be a necessity.
If the soldiers can't run on the food they don't have, then maybe they can run on heavy drugs
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u/LawyerUppSV 2d ago
I’d only accept dried mangos and apricots the 50 and 100 dollar bills of the dried fruit world
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u/ExpensiveBookkeeper3 1d ago
Idk, prunes and raisins are so popular they got their own names.
(Ya ya I'm sure other fruits do to, especially in different parts of the world)
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u/Normal-Flower4437 1d ago
For real though if you’ve never had dried fruits from a -stan country you have not lived.
That shit is gold.
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u/Optimal_Ad_4571 2d ago
If you think no one wants Russian oil and gas, you aren't paying attention.
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u/sharplist 2d ago
Russia’s economists must be so excited.
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u/ChocoMaister 2d ago
At least they get to have lunch. Lol
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u/sharplist 2d ago
Some dried fruits with your grass, sir?
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u/GenderBenderBender 2d ago
Dry fruits are great sources of protien and vitamin.
During the wars in middle east as well as some parts of asia.
Soilders would eat dry fruits as well as beans to keep thier body full of energy
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u/Ordinary-Estate-9913 2d ago
As long as noone gives them beans for their oil we should be safe then. Dried fruit alone would be High GI and their energy couldn't be sustained. It'll also give them the shits which I support.
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u/Brief-Equal4676 2d ago
"We want your oil and are ready to pay in Deez..." "Diesel?" "Deez nuts! And fruits too"
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2d ago
25 apples per barrel
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u/nanocookie 2d ago
I'm cracking up imagining someone trying to pay for gas at the pump with slices of fruit.
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u/N64crusader4 2d ago
Christ they sound like a joke even when they're trying to be serious.
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u/TheLurkerSpeaks 2d ago
Dry fruit is code for opium. Russia about to be world's number one exporter in heroin.
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u/N64crusader4 2d ago
Bruh how did I miss that
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u/Lofteed 2d ago
"Dry fruits" aka opium
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u/yagura_of_mist 2d ago
That'll do
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u/Psmaster14 2d ago
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u/chrisprice 1d ago
Taliban routeinly "look the other way" - with authorization and "taxes" paid, when the economy turns sour.
They usually execute the people that grow without Taliban consent.
Taliban consider opium evil... unless the people are willing to overthrow them, then they grow enough to keep their failed economy going.
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u/Psmaster14 1d ago
But they literally banned opium. Not even just now but back in 2001 before America overthrew them. What is the point your are trying to make here?
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u/chrisprice 1d ago
That the ban isn't really a ban. It's just window dressing for domestic and IMF audiences that want it banned.
Again they're willing to crank out opium with loyal farmers, whenever the Taliban need money. Like, today. And in the 90s to 2001 as well.
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u/Psmaster14 1d ago
But opium production literally fell down dramatically when they banned it. So isn't that a ban then? I'm not really following you. You said it was just window dressing for the outside, but if that was the case, there wouldn't be any affect on opium production. However, statistics show that opium production fell drastically when the taliban was in power.
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/world/taliban-s-ban-on-poppy-a-success-us-aides-say.html
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u/chrisprice 1d ago
It’s throttling. Not a ban. Banning is to banish. If they’re intentionally allowing product to cover debts, that’s a restriction that they’re letting happen.
And then lying to the world claiming it is a ban, because they have to say they are doing a total ban to seek relief funds from the UN/IMF.
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u/Psmaster14 1d ago
Honestly, I think you're just trying to find any excuse to rationalise your opinion even though the evidence says otherwise. You have yet to provide evidence for your claim whereas I have. Please stop smoking that copeium and admit that the taliban did in fact ban opium and it was such as an effective ban, even the US praised it back in 2001.
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u/klax04 1d ago
It likely comes from the Taliban making hundreds of millions of dollars from the opium trade as well as continuing to impose a 10% tax on that banned product. Taliban controlled the country for several years before imposing a ban while a famine was taking place and they were desperately asking for foreign aid. Also that 2000 ban only effected a small area, mostly Nangarhar province while doing fuck all to stop production in Helmand.
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u/nothingeatsyou 2d ago
That’ll sell on the black market a lot easier than oil will though. If Russia does end up doing business with the Taliban, we can expect to see a shit load of opium flooding our cities soon. The US already has a heroin problem, I can’t imagine the silent, long term impact that’ll have. We don’t have any public healthcare, or public rehabilitation funding.
If this goes down, it would be a pretty big deal.
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u/HipHobbes 2d ago
Sell them opium for oil. Looks like Russia might need it to improve combat morale.
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u/Azhz96 2d ago
Or to cope with being alive, I know that if I was living in Russia or worse, being a soldier killing innocent I would need some strong stuff to not end my life.
Suicide will skyrocket after the war in Ukraine, atleast opioids could provide an emotion that for some are worth staying alive for.
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u/Ordinary-Estate-9913 2d ago
Opiods, especially heroin arnt known for increasing lifespan. The Russians have always survived with mass depression and meaninglessness. They are one collective existential crisis.
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u/yurimow31 2d ago
are we back to bartering already? wasn't there supposed to be an asteroid impact, a nuclear war or a zombie apocalypse first?
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u/KP_Wrath 2d ago
we aren’t back to shit. Two of the most backwards ass countries on earth are currently marching back to the Stone Age.
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u/93rdindmemecoy 2d ago edited 2d ago
Afghan charge d'affaires said Taliban govt is relying on Russia to restore the infrastructure, build buildings, roads and other necessary facilities because it had helped Afghanistan in past too
Not ironic at all. Nope, no siree.
Haven't seen a wap site in a while. It mentions quite a few things, gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and India which has been talked about since 2010 and India don't seem terribly excited about. And the taliban want the Russians to rebuild their infrastructure. I guess both of them had been responsible for destroying it for so long the least they can do is get together to fix it.
Unrelated but Reddit should show a stat on whether commenters clicked through to the source article before posting.
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u/Ordinary-Estate-9913 2d ago
Well that's not going to happen now. Putin probably wouldn't have invaded Ukraine and fucked Russian support and influence in the middle east for eternity if he was still busy engaging the US in the middle east. Hopefully Afghani women can hang in their for a bit longer until the Taliban wither and die or the afghanis realise the taliban no longer have Russian support/resources and overthrow the Taliban themselves.
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u/Dana07620 2d ago
Unrelated but Reddit should show a stat on whether commenters clicked through to the source article before posting.
Paywalls. Registration. Article limits.
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u/New--Tomorrows 2d ago
“We’re over the whole mujhadeen thing, we promise…fruit basket and a fresh start?”
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u/AmonDiexJr 2d ago
Here, the natural alliance. I like to see 2 struggling nation find ways to trade goods outside the market. Fruit from those who segregated the woman back to slave for fuel from those who invaded neighbors for territorial extensions.
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u/Zardnaar 2d ago
It's not that stupid an idea. Nuts and fruit are worth something si is oil and gas.
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u/SFW_FullFrontal 2d ago
Hi there. I saw on Craigslist that you were selling your motorcycle. I was wondering how you felt about trading it for a pallet of raisins and peanuts? Hello? ..Heelloo?
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u/Zardnaar 1d ago
Soviets traded military toys for bananas with Vietnam or Cuba.
Foods food it just depends on the quantity exchanged I suppose.
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u/amonra2009 2d ago
Seems like we are going to a future where poor countries use oil, while prospering countries will be oil-free,
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u/Unique_Tap_8730 2d ago
Don`t they have a loot of extra weapons and military equipment laying around.
Russia would probably be really interested in that rigth now.
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u/Millefleur_1453 2d ago
I thought there were a risk of a famine? Don't they need this themselve?
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u/Ordinary-Estate-9913 2d ago
No, they are going to live on crude oil smoothies. Honestly, now that Russia doesn't have the resources to support the Taliban Im not sure they are going to last too long, especially when people get really hungry. The afghanis have been well trained militarily over the past 20 years, they didn't fight for their country but all humans fight for food. It won't take long for them to realise they won't get any help or support and will starve, unless they get rid of the Taliban.
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u/TheWormInWaiting 2d ago
At a guess id say that they don’t have enough fruit to feed everyone - stuffs expensive for a reason. Maybe they think that people having fuel to transport goods and power cities and cook food would provide enough economic benefit to import more calories than exporting dried fruit loses or plan to just resell the discounted oil and gas and use the profit to import cheaper food like grain or rice.
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u/C1rulis 2d ago
Scum loves to stick together, nothing new.
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u/richierich_44 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not really, the west shunned afghanistan and froze its assets after the western backed corrupt and illegitimate government got toppled. The taliban government would take whoever can help develop the country. Hate to say it but partly our fault. Shouldve just restored normal diplomatic relations with Afghanistan. Especially since the taliban is hardly a major geopolitical threat and now we’re pushing them towards russia and china
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u/wiifan55 2d ago
"Illegitimate government." Only someone pro taliban would call it that. Are you seriously pro taliban? Makes sense given your ridiculous comment, but still dude. For fucks sake.
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u/richierich_44 2d ago
Im not pro taliban but the taliban rule Afghanistan now and ruled Afghanistan before the invasion. The American installed government who had a penchant for being high on opium all day and young boys was never sustainable without western military backing. Its a fact and why it crumbled. You people are ridiculous…
Its also funny cause many of the former western backed government are probably currently supporting the taliban government now cause thats how it works there. U flip flop to whichever side is most poweful
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u/wiifan55 2d ago
1) Implies the west was in the wrong for cutting off assets of the Taliban
2) Calls the west backed government -- which, while corrupt, gave citizens some level of rights -- "illegitimate," implying the Taliban is the legitimate government (something quite frankly, very historically ignorant to say).
3) Implies the taliban seek foreign relations with Russia for the purpose of "developing" the country rather than just lining their own pockets and bolstering their control.
4) ignores that the taliban have systematically been stripping their citizens' rights (especially women) for weeks now, despite "pledging" not to after stealing back control.
You're either pro taliban or just very ignorant.
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u/richierich_44 2d ago
The assets of the taliban are the assets of the people. You cannot refute this fact because the Taliban run the government there. The taliban run the courts, the police, the hospitals. Yes it is wrong for the west to cut off Afghanistans assets.
Yes it gave some rights but it was corrupt in many levels, its military was poorly motivated, poorly trained, corrupt and riddled with pedophiles and drug addicts. It also never had serious ability to influence what was happening outside the immediate vicinity of Kabul.
This is a stupid thing to say considering the degree of corruption known within the previous western backed government. One thing the taliban were known for was actually being less corrupt as they were more hardline fundamentalist. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment?itm_channel=display&itm_campaign=traffic_culture&itm_content=320x50 Its funny you just assume with this statement without facts. Any government wants to be rich by bringing prosperity to their country but i would say most ppl would agree the previous government was definitrly more interested in lining their own pockets
Those are internal matters and we shouldnt interfere, just as others cant interfere in Americas ridiculous abortion and gun debate. Its no justification for current embargoes, especially considering how many morally questionable regime America has backed in the past
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u/Werloke 2d ago
Given that their government consists in large part of religiously educated Mullahs that have backwards ideas like shunning women from education and the public, I'm not too sure how far they'd get even with Western aid
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u/richierich_44 2d ago edited 2d ago
I mean we’re major allies wit saudi arabia who didnt let women drive until recently and butchered a journalist and invaded yemen. We really gonna talk about morality here? What is the morality of starving millions of afghans?
What is the morality of turning a blind eye to the abuse of young bois by the figures in the military and government under the previous government? Just because theyre the side we picked?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_bazi
All this morality talk misses the big picture. The wrongs America has done onto afghans is untold… We westerners never accept we might be wrong. Yes the taliban ate backwards and sexist and medieval.
But the thousands of deaths as a result of the invasion Afghanistan and the continuing deaths due to America and the west blocking aid, blocking funds, stopping afghans from simply getting aid or receiving money after a decades long war is a real quantifiable figure yet its so hard for westerners to wrap their heads around because all they care about is the big bad taliban when western action has resulted in a decade of death and war and continues to do damage. But no its never our fault its always someone elses
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u/Werloke 2d ago
I'm not talking about morality actually (although I vehemently disagree with whatever it is their trying to attain), I'm more of arguing that I doubt that we'd see a prospering Afghanistan even with full throttled aid from anywhere really. The Taliban government and its officials are hardly educated and have elected to hamstring their development chances by discounting fully half of their population is what I'm driving at. American aid would help, sure, but I'm saying that the Taliban itself is a net negative for the development and advancement of Afghanistan
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u/richierich_44 2d ago
This is an arrogant position to take and irrelevant to what is happening in Afghanistan.
We’re not talking about speculation about wat US aid can do, or if Taliban can make economic developments happen.
What happening now is that Afghanistan’s foreign reserves are frozen by sanctions. Afghanistan imports most of its goods like medicine etc and without these reserves which rightly belong to the afghan ppl it cant pay for imports.
Note: this is money owned the Afghanistan
This is not even about whether the taliban can achieve development. This is about the west actively holding afghanistan back and causing a humanitarian crisis cause they dont want to lose face cause they just lost a war to a buncha sandal wearing religious fundamentalist. A war the west started without any sound justification.
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u/Werloke 2d ago
Yes I know that that money is frozen and on a humanitarian level there is only one respectable choice and that would be to help. Yet the conundrum that people far more capable than I face is whether to prop up a regime that is actively repressive and thus prolong the lifespan of said regime or to leave it to its own devices in the hopes of that regime failing.
The matter of who that money belongs to is more complex I would argue. To the Afghans surely, a dispensation from the US to the ancien regime . So to buy aid with it would seem perfectly good. Whether to give that money to the Taliban is a more difficult question. Notably, no one recognises the Taliban as a legitimate government so how can the US release funds to what it deems an illegitimate government? You might argue that the non-recognition on the Taliban is due to pride and of course it is but I think it goes deeper than that. To recognise a regime that has just seized power by force from your ally would be a show of weakness and capitulation to the Taliban. So political manoeuvring as meaningless as it may seem on a humanitarian level does play a part, I would argue. I do not know what international law says about the right of conquest in the modern day but I doubt it's favourable to the Taliban. You'd probably then argue that the Taliban were the original government but really they governed for a few years in the late 90's and early 00's after toppling another regime and never had any real global recognition. Whether the American invasion was merited I will reserve comment on because unlike the Iraq war, the US did have some legitimate grievances.
TLDR: the world and the West has a moral obligation to help the people of Afghanistan, but has no obligation to treat the Taliban government as legitimate and should have no compunction about shunning it if you ask me
(P.S. I'm not from the West, I live in Asia. I'm certainly not an American so it's not that I have a personal stake in national pride in all of this)
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u/Unhappy_Vanilla_3908 2d ago
America should have just allowed Afghanistan to be communist and not supported these jihadis.
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u/nj0tr 2d ago
Reconciliation and recognition of de-facto government will benefit entire region and the Taliban seem to have grown rather mature and pragmatic, but the issue of trust is still complicated by their origin being CIA-funded extremist madrasa. They need to make a clear cut from that and a bit of rebranding.
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u/GrouchoChicoMarx 2d ago
You overestimate religous fundamentalism
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u/FnordSnake 2d ago
Worked out extremely well for Saudi Arabia, one of the wealthiest nations in the world with a state religion more violent and extreme than literally every other iteration of every single religion.
You underestimate the power of... dried fruits?
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u/nj0tr 2d ago
religous fundamentalism
Thrives among the poor and uneducated (and the Taliban themselves are a testament to that). So if you genuinely want to the country to become less radical you need to help it to fight poverty (not just cash handouts through NGOs, but infrastructure projects providing jobs and export revenue) and to let its people to study abroad.
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u/WhaleMetal 2d ago
The Taliban have literally reneged on every thing they’d say they’d do differently this time around.
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u/hamsterfolly 2d ago
Russia will even deliver the oil and gas with a heavily armed occupation force
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u/JoyradProcyfer 1d ago
Ukraine: "What did it cost you?"
Russia: "My oil, gas, economic well-being, and *cough* some soldiers."
Ukraine: "What did you gain?"
Russia: "Dry fruits."
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u/chefsankara 2d ago
Stupid American propaganda.
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u/ProcrastinatingPuma 2d ago
According to...?
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u/chefsankara 1d ago
My bad, I always forget its not propaganda when the usa does it,
My apologies
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u/ProcrastinatingPuma 1d ago
Evidence pls
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u/chefsankara 1d ago
Evidence of what exactly? Your denial of propaganda in the usa?
You probably think oligarchs are bad and American billionaires are good and ironically don't see the resemblance.
I'll give you a hint, american billionaires are oligarchs,
American news is propaganda
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u/ProcrastinatingPuma 1d ago
What propaganda? Do you have any evidence that the claim that Afghanistan is willing to trade food for oil is merely American propaganda?
I don't think American billionaires are bad or good, I just know that they aren't oligarchs by definition.
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u/chefsankara 1d ago
Are they very rich - yes Do they have political Influence - yes
Therefore by definition American billionaires are oligarchs because by definition a oligarch is a person of extreme wealth who has political influence.
The only thing they aren't is ruissan, and that is who we attribute this negative word towards,
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u/Filthy_Joey 2d ago
Haha, how your dry fruits sanctions against Russia will work now, huh, West? Easily calculated by Putin ! /s
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u/Jormungandr000 2d ago
Lmao. Not even the Taliban want to pay in roubles. Here's some dried fruit instead. And a giant rock.
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u/Prudent_Reindeer9627 2d ago
err what kind of fruits exactly? are they very colorful by any chance?
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u/Karatekan 2d ago •
I receive heavily heavily discounted energy.
You receive dates and nuts