Afghanistan

Imported Inorganic Chemical Elements, Oxides and Halogen Salts in Afghanistan, 

Country of Origin Rank Value (000 US ) % Share Cumulative % 

Source Philip M. PARKER, Professor, INSEAD, copyright 2002, www.icongroiiporilirie.coin 

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Malaria affects an estimated 270 million people and causes 2—3 million deaths annually, approximately one million of which occur in children under the age of five. While primarily an affliction of the tropics and subtropics, it has occurred as far north as the Arctic Circle. The disease essentially has been eradicated in most temperate-zone countries, but some 1100 cases of malaria in U.S. citizens returning from abroad were reported to the Centers for Disease Control during 1990. Malaria is seen today in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. It is on the increase in Afghanistan, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Escalation of the disease is because of the discontinued use of the insecticide DDT which effectively kills mosquito larvae, but has been found to be toxic to Hvestock and wildlife. Also, chloroquine (6), a reUable dmg for the prophylaxis and treatment of falcipamm malaria, is ineffective in many parts of the world because of the spread of dmg-resistant strains. 

Hepatitis E is associated with more than 50% of the acute hepatitis cases in endemic areas (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Mexico, the Middle East, Northern Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa). The virus is primarily transmitted by the fecal-oral route. Transmission of HEV is more prominent in underdeveloped countries where sanitation is poor. 

Bolton, Henry Carrington. Alchemical tricks in Afghanistan. Chem News 48, no. 1245 (5 Oct 1883) 169. 

Several countries have stockpiled a limited number of toxins. Their use on the battlefield has been alleged (e.g., Laos, Kampuchea, and Afghanistan) but not documented to the extent that it is universally accepted. Toxins have been used for political assassinations (e.g., 1978 murder of Georgi Markov with ricin) and terrorists have threatened the use of toxins, usually through contamination of food or water supplies. 

Centgas (Central Asia Gas) Daulatabad (Turkmenistan) via Herat (Afghanistan) to Multan (Pakistan). Could extend to India 700 Bcf/yr 870 miles to Multan (additional 400 miles to India) 2 billion to Pakistan (additional 500 million to India) Memorandum of Understanding signed by Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. Project stalled... 

Yellow Rain A lethal yellow substance thought to have been dispersed aerially as a warfare agent in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan the lethal component is though to have been a trichothecene mycotoxin that was reported to produce severe nausea and vomiting, disturbances in the central nervous system. Fever, chills, and abnormally low blood pressure with a case mortality of approximately 50 percent. 

Osama bin Laden is the big, bad bogey-man who has fear and loathing etched into the faces of all Americans, yet his many relatives love the United States it is estimated that forty of them were living here on September 11,2001. Most of them left the country within two days, and the United States just let them go rather than taking them into custody as material witnesses. The family is all-important in Saudi Arabian culture as it is in Arab and Muslim populations around the world. Osama secrets himself in the mountains and poverty of Afghanistan, although it is not well known to the American public is that in Boston two of his uncles and one of his sons are wealthy businessmen Harvard University was given 2,000,000 by the bin Laden family. 

Unearthed terrorist documents in Afghanistan indicating al Qaeda s interest in nuclear, radiological, and biological weapons [56],... 

President Bush responded to the attacks by ousting the Taliban from power in Afghanistan after the Taliban refused to turn over Osama bin Laden to face trial for the September 11 terrorist attacks. 

More concrete information is required on the substances actually used in the illicit manufacture of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy) and on the methods of diversion of the acetic anhydride used for illicit heroin manufacture in Afghanistan. Those situations must be addressed in the near future and, for example, a limited-time operation for monitoring the international trade in safrole will be launched shortly under Project Prism. The Board is also participating in capacity-building exercises in Afghanistan under Operation Topaz. 

With the current increase in both illicit opium cultivation and the subsequent manufacture of heroin in Afghanistan, the Board continues to pay special attention to shipments of acetic anhydride to the region. During 2004, however, no shipments of acetic anhydride in licit international trade were reported to Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan only two shipments have been imported by Pakistan. Furthermore, with the exception of a single seizure of 375 litres of acetic anhydride in Afghanistan, no seizures of the substance have been reported by any of those countries. 

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