After the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2001, the Afghan farmers started again to grow the poppies that are at the base of the production of opium and, in a second stage, heroin. Whereas the Taliban were able to forbid the cultivation of poppies -they burned the crops of those who did not follow their orders- now there are no authorities able, for the moment, to prevent the farmers to resume doing it.
In August 2003 it was obvious that the UN's plans to reduce the opium poppy farming, drug production, and trading were not working. About 90% of the opium sold in Britain comes again from Afghanistan that also provides 70% of the world's heroin. Britain is heading the international battle against these crops but so far has been unsuccessful, some say for lack of money. The insecurity in the rural areas makes Britain's mission more or less impossible.
On October 30 2003, The Guardian said that Afghanistan is becoming a state controlled by "narco-terrorists" and drug dealers. To avoid this risk, the opium and heroin production, now at record level, must decrease significantly and soon. In 2003 the poppy production will reach 3,600 tonnes on 81,000 hectares of cultivated land in 28 of the 32 provinces. In the last 10 years, the record production reached 4,600 tonnes in 1999 when the Taliban ordered, with success, to stop the production.
On February 8, 2004, Nato was accused to turn a blind eye to the opium cultivation and trade in Afghanistan in exchange for the support of the warlords to maintain security in the country. This was revealed when the Nato countries discussed in Munich, Germany, whether to increase the number of soldiers in Afghanistan.
On April 1, 2004, the USA accused Britain of failing to stop Afghanistan growing poppies. An increase of up to 100% of farmland used for poppy cultivation could very well happen soon. On July 31, 2004, the USA blamed again Britain's failure to stop the poppy production and trading of opium. It seems that there has been quite a few clashes between the two countries lately on the subject while anarchy is spreading. It is a fact that the opium production is very high and quite a few Afghan ministers and warlords are financially profiting from it, so it is not ready to stop.
On August 16, 2004, we were told that during a brief visit to Afghanistan last week, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that the country's resurgent opium trade could derail efforts to establish stable democratic rules. He added that a "master plan" is being developed to help the Afghan government curtail poppy cultivation and to cancel a trade that is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the coffers of local warlords and terrorist groups.
The Year 2004 has been a very good year for Afghanistan's drug lords. Since the Taliban collapsed in November 2001, traffickers, some militia commanders, and provincial officials have reaped rich rewards from the opium and heroin industry. But in the coming months, Afghan leaders hope to crack down on the illicit industry by deploying a team of judges, prosecutors, and police to target what they fear is a growing number of drug barons.
In September 2004, Afghanistan was trying to pick up the pieces after more than two decades of violent and socially destabilising civil war. Already one of the poorest countries in the world, the years of war have compounded the challenges facing modernisation of a primarily agrarian society with feudalistic and traditionalist social relations. The post-conflict reconstruction period has yet to offer tangible opportunities for most Afghans who struggle to survive. However, outside the towns, the opium economy is booming. Afghanistan is by far the world's leading supplier of opiates, with more than 1.7 million farmers estimated to be involved in opium production. The availability of cheap opium, heroin and other pharmaceuticals is causing a rapid rise in drug dependency in Afghanistan as well as in the neighbouring countries. A study showed that hashish was the top drug used, with opium, heroin, pharmaceuticals and alcohol closely following.
At the end of September 2004, it is believed that poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, the world's leading supplier of illicit opium, morphine, and heroin, increased by 40 percent this year. The CIA's counter narcotics centre estimated that 61,000 hectares were used for poppy production last year; this could increase to 100,000 hectares in 2004. President Hamid Karzai had repeatedly said that drug trafficking and corruption were the top threats to his country's long-term security and future. A bumper crop last year generated 2.3 billion dollars and produced three-quarters of the world's heroin. Instability in the wake of the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq has resulted in one booming market for drug production, and a second potentially important market for narcotics sale and transit. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that US-led forces in Afghanistan were doing "almost nothing" to stem the flow of drugs from that country.
On Thursday October 7, 2004, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie proposed the creation of a separate international force to deal with the growing problem of illegal drug cultivation in Afghanistan. She said NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would not be able to handle the problem. The minister recorded that 28 of the country's 32 provinces are producing opium, employing more than 1.7 million people, and that the opium production in 2003 amounted to about 3,600 tonnes. More then 90 percent of the heroin arriving in France comes from Afghanistan.
On August 23, 2004, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime said that the human costs of drug trafficking could be seen in Afghanistan's growing population of addicts. A significant number of heroin users are among the millions of refugees who came back from Iran and Pakistan. Some Afghans turn to heroin or other opiates to relieve pain. Poverty and despair bred by decades of war and repression are another cause of drug addiction. Britain is the lead country in helping Afghanistan to develop a counter-narcotics effort, but the US, Germany, and Japan are also playing an important role.
The illegal opium trade in Afghanistan has become the biggest single threat to democracy, surpassing al Qaida and the Taliban and prompting US officials to consider military intervention against the traffickers. The country's soaring drug profits now equal about half of its gross national product and have become the principal source of funds for reconstruction, outpacing foreign aid. The drug trade is fuelling corruption at the highest levels of the government, involving army generals and other top officials who work with the US military on antiterrorism operations. The United States is considering expanding the role of the roughly 18,000 American troops in the country to help crack down on the skyrocketing drug economy.
On November 18, 2004, it was revealed that the poppy production in Afghanistan, the source of most of the opium and heroin on Europe's streets, has increased sharply. It is reaching its higher level ever.
On December 9, 2004, President Hamid Karzai declared a "Holy War" on narcotic production. He asked for foreign aid -that is, money- to do it. The Taliban had stopped the poppy cultivation but since the US invasion, the production has started again reaching unprecedented level.
Aid to Afghanistan should not be linked to progress on combating drug production, the Afghan government said on Wednesday February 1, 2005, rejecting remarks by the United Nations anti-narcotics chief (Antonio Maria Costa said that aid from international donors should be rescinded if drug crops were not eradicated). Despite government efforts, Afghan opium output has surged to near-record level. The U.N. reported that drug exports now account for more than 60 percent of Afghanistan's economy. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has made the fight against the "dishonour" of drug production a priority of his new government sworn in December, urging provincial governors and regional commanders to destroy poppies by all means necessary.
During the last months of 2004 Afghanistan increased its efforts to eradicate the cultivation of poppy across the country. Counter-narcotic forces have destroyed 14,800 hectares of poppies during the last three months. According to the United Nations, however, 130,000 hectares were dedicated last year to this crop. The counter-narcotic force was created last year with funds provided by the United States under an international anti-narcotics programme.
Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan's northern provinces has tripled since 2003, according to an UN Office on Drugs and Crime report released on February 5, 2005. The December survey revealed poppy cultivation in northern Faryab province increased about four-fold, rising from 800 hectares in 2003 to 3,200 in 2004. In Sari Pul province, it increased by 38 percent.
On February 16, 2005, Britain said it will double its spending on anti-drug efforts in Afghanistan from $50 million to $100 million. But British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, added that without a global approach, extra funds would do little to solve the problem. To stamp out opium cultivation in Afghanistan, he said, both the consumers and producers must be dealt with. Many Afghan farmers are in debt to drug traffickers and are forced to continue to grow opium poppies to survive.
On February 18, 2005, we were told that tens of thousands of ex-poppy growers applied to join the ANA (Afghan National Army) as an alternative means of employment after a ban on poppy cultivation, and a serious eradication campaign began in the country's eastern and southern provinces. More than 8,000 men in Nangarhar alone applied to the ANA recruitment centre. Hundreds of thousands of people are already unemployed after the poppy cultivation was partially banned or when their poppy fields were destroyed over the last two months.
Drug production in Afghanistan is so widespread that it has become a severe threat to this new democracy as well as to the stability and economic recovery of the country as a whole, the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said on Wednesday March 2, 2005, in its 2004 annual report. "The complex inter-linkage of terrorism, organized crime, corruption, and drug trafficking pose an unprecedented threat, raising concerns that the overall situation may worsen." The report urged international cooperation to fight unlicensed Internet pharmacies operating in contravention of international norms and national legislation. Internet pharmacies sell several billion doses of medicine illicitly each year, mainly internationally controlled narcotics and so-called psychotropic substances, which act on the mind.
In Afghanistan, where the wars on heroin and terrorism intersect, the narcotics side is winning. The cultivation of Afghan poppies reached record levels in 2004 according to the State Department's annual report on global narcotics, released Friday March 4, 2005. Opium-trade proceeds are known to help finance the remaining Taliban and other terrorists. It now represents 40 to 60 percent of the gross national product. At least there seems to be a will, both in and outside Afghanistan, to tackle this escalating problem. President Hamid Karzai, who campaigned on an anti-narcotics platform, is busy creating the governmental and legal machinery necessary to strike at the drug trade. His message was backed by many Mullahs -a strong moral force in this country. In addition to the $100 million that Britain will spend in the country, the US is offering $780 million in anti-narcotics assistance. Improved security, the rule of law, and an economically viable alternative to poppy farming are needed changes if Afghanistan's - and the world's - anti-opium efforts are to be effective. To reduce the poppy production requires a long-term anti-drug commitment.
On March 24, 2005, Afghanistan is creating a special court to try traffickers involved in the country's narcotics industry. Over the last year, three judges, seven prosecutors and a number of investigators for the court have been trained.
On April 13, 2005, the Afghan government said it would press ahead with a poppy eradication programme despite strong resistance from farmers in the south of the country. A farmer was killed and several others injured in clashes with anti-drugs forces near Kandahar. The destruction of crops was halted while officials tried to persuade the village elders to support the drive. Aid agencies say opium crop growers need to be given alternative livelihoods if the policy is to work.
Afghan police and forces from the US-led military coalition seized $2 million worth of illegal drugs and detained seven suspected smugglers, we were told on Saturday April 23, 2005. The security forces seized the 1,056 pounds of drugs near Afghanistan's northwestern frontier, which borders Iran and Turkmenistan.
On May 24, 2005, Afghan anti-drug forces arrested suspected drug traffickers and seized a huge cache of opium -more than 10,000 pounds were seized and destroyed. Lately President Hamid Karzai came under fire for his record in fighting the world's largest narcotics industry. Authorities found the bodies of two Uzbeks believed to have been kidnapped and killed by Taliban militants for working with US forces destroying poppy fields. Around May 20, 2005, 11 Afghans working on a U.S. project to encourage farmers not to grow poppies were killed in two attacks.
On June 11, 2005, we were reminded that the poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is increasing day by day. Afghanistan is sometime described as a "drug democracy" and the drug barons will try to influence the next parliamentary elections. Hamid Karzai seems to be unable to do anything to stop it. Some people even go as far as saying that he is, personally or indirectly, linked to the drug trade. It is believed that 90% of the heroin sold in Europe is of Afghan origin. On the other hand it is easy to understand why the farmers cultivate poppies. In this way they can earn as much as 38 times what they would get cultivating food.
Afghan officials burned about 60 tonnes of narcotics Saturday June 25, 2005, in huge bonfires throughout the country. On the outskirts of the capital, Kabul, government officials were on hand to torch a stockpile of hashish, heroin and opium. The fires were timed to mark the United Nations' International Day against Drug Abuse and Trafficking.
The Afghan government announced on August 20, 2005, an allocation of $20 million dollars to the western Farah province for eradication of poppy cultivation and providing farmers an alternative source of living. The decision came after a meeting between officials from Farah and representatives of several ministries involved in the counter-narcotics effort.
Cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan, which are used to produce the narcotic heroin, decreased by 21 percent this year, the first reduction since the U.S. toppled the radical Islamist Taliban regime in 2001, the United Nations said on August 30, 2005. The decrease to 257,000 acres from 323,700 acres last year will lead to a worldwide reduction in poppy cultivation of 16 percent. Afghanistan remains the world leader in opium poppy cultivation, with 63 percent of the 2005 crop.
U.N. anti-drug chief Antonio Maria Costa said August 31, 2005 bumper growing conditions meant that Afghanistan's opium production remained almost unchanged this year even though a crackdown on poppy farming cut the land under cultivation by 21 percent.
European countries on Friday September 9, 2005, pledged to step up their support for international efforts aimed at eradicating opium production in Afghanistan despite fears that the counter narcotics strategy is being undermined by the corruption of local official and politicians involved in the drugs trade. While failing to come up with any detailed new proposals, the EU agreed to improve the coordination between EU member states that are contributing to a joint programme with the Afghan government in the areas of law enforcement, crop substitution, economic reconstruction and judicial reform. Over 90 per cent of heroin being sold in the EU originates in Afghanistan, with recent UN figures showing production levels little changed despite a reduction over the last year in the area planted with opium poppy. Over half of the country's national income continues to be generated from the illicit trade in the drug.
Two million people, or nearly nine per cent of Afghanistan's population, are involved in the cultivation of illegal opium we were told on December 12, 2005. The farmers receive less than 20 per cent of the profits from the illicit crop used to make heroin. War-ravaged and destitute Afghanistan is the world's leading supplier of opium, accounting for an estimated 80 per cent of the global total. Potential opium production was estimated to fall by only 2.4 per cent compared to 2004, to reach about 4,100 tones, in part because of favourable weather.
Driving tractors through fields of poppy plants, Afghan counter narcotics agents started a major opium eradication campaign Wednesday March 8, 2006. The effort comes amid warnings of another bumper crop. Some 1,000 heavily armed police and soldiers guarded the drug agents because Taliban insurgents have threatened to defend the poppy farms. However, there were no reports of violence.
A plane carrying US drug enforcement officials slammed into tents and mud brick houses Monday April 25, 2006, while trying to avoid a truck on a runway, killing two Ukrainian crewmembers on board and three people on the ground. At least 13 people were injured, including several Americans, after the Russian-made, twin-engine An-32 aircraft ploughed into a nomad settlement on landing at an airport in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province. Two of the four Ukrainian crewmembers, including the pilot, were killed, while eight of the 13 passengers -11 Americans and two people whose nationalities were not specified- suffered minor injuries.
Two farmers were killed when they clashed with anti-narcotic police in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday May 9, 2006. The clashes occurred in Khawja Archik district of Saribul province when the policemen were trying to destroy poppy land of the farmers. Nine policemen and two others were injured during the incident. The authorities have destroyed nearly 10,000 acres of poppy fields in the province since March 27. Afghanistan with an output of 4,200 tonnes of opium became the largest producer of raw material used in manufacturing heroin in the world in 2004, and secured the same position last year as more farmers devoted most of their lands for the cultivation. Under a strategy launched in May 2003, the Afghan government has planned to reduce drug production in the country by 75 percent by 2008.
Nearly 15,000 bottles of alcoholic drinks and 1.5 tonnes of drugs went up in smoke near Afghanistan's capital on June 18, 2006. The haul included 876 kilograms of opium, 374 kilograms of hashish, 156 kilograms of heroin and 14 kilograms of morphine. The drugs and the alcohol were seized in different parts of the country during 2002 and 2003. Alcohol is banned in Afghanistan, an Islamic republic, except for foreigners who can only buy at certain shops with proof of identity or in restaurants. However it is available to Afghans under the counter in some places. The country grows about 90 per cent of the opium used in Europe, mostly to make heroin. The country also has about one million drugs users, a number which is growing.
Opium production in Afghanistan could surge again this year and the demand for cocaine in Europe is higher than ever, a UN watchdog has concluded on June 26, 2006. Efforts to stamp out opium growing in Afghanistan are being hampered by persistent lawlessness. Opium production went down last year for the first time since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.
Russia on Wednesday June 28, 2006, warned that Afghanistan could eventually become a "drug state," wiping out efforts of the international community to transform it into a stable and democratic nation.
Afghanistan is set to produce its largest ever opium crop we were told
on July 4, 2006.The $1bn campaign to eradicate the crop has been "an
absolute disaster". Recent estimates by western counter-narcotics officials
suggest that Helmand's poppy crop may more than double to 77,000 hectares,
up from 26,500 in 2005. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime estimated
in February that the province would see this year's crop rise by more than
half compared with the year before.
On July 10, 2006, western officials expect the largest-ever opium crop in Afghanistan in the face of a toothless US$1 billion eradication campaign. Forty thousand tons of narcotics were burned last week at a ceremony in Kabul to show the state's determination. And contrary to earlier statements, the Taliban are gaining steam in the southern provinces, where fighting has raged at levels not seen since the US-led invasion that toppled the al-Qaeda-allied Islamic fundamentalist movement five years ago. It is known that illegal drugs now account for nearly half of its gross domestic product. These news came just one week after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a five-hour pit stop for a meeting with President Hamid Karzai to affirm Washington's full support of his efforts to steer reconstruction and defeat a reconstituted Taliban.
On August 18, 20065, we were told that opium crops in Afghanistan have hit record levels despite hundreds of millions in anti-drugs funding. A Western anti-narcotic official said about 150,000ha of opium poppy was cultivated this growing season -up from 104,000ha last year. The UN reported last year Afghanistan made 4500 tonnes of opium, which makes 450 tonnes of heroin, or almost 90 per cent of world supply. This year's findings indicate a failure to eradicate poppy cultivation and continuing corruption.
Afghan government has destroyed more than 100,000 acres of poppy-cultivated lands over the past five months, Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbal said Sunday August 20, 2006. The government also destroyed nearly 70 tones of narcotics in one year. 293 drug smugglers have also been arrested during the period.
The illicit Afghan narcotics trade is taking a sharp turn for the worse
despite major efforts by US and Afghan forces over the past year, continuing
to fuel an insurgency that is increasingly killing American soldiers -the
USA, selfish as usual, does not obviously care about the other soldiers
being also killed-and destabilizing the country. In light of dramatic figures
expected to be announced in Saturday September 2, 2006, by the United Nations,
U.S. officials plan a shift in policy including getting tougher with regional
Afghan officials who fail to meet new goals for destroying poppy fields
in their areas, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has learned. A record of 375,000-400,000
acres might be under cultivation, up from 267,000 acres last year. And a
push is likely in Congress next week for aerial spraying of poppy fields
-a highly sensitive matter bitterly opposed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai
because it recalls the spectre of the Soviet occupation and could spark
social unrest among impoverished farmers.
According to a report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released on September 14, 2006, the area sown to opium poppy has increased this year by 59 percent, while the gross opium harvest will amount to 6,100 tons. Afghan experts maintain that this year opium will be exceedingly rich in morphine. A mere seven kilograms of raw opium will produce one kilogram of heroin. This ratio is very rare. Usually it takes from 10 to 15 kilograms of opium to make this amount. According to UNOCD, last year's harvest - 4,000 tons of raw opium - produced 400 tons of heroins. The current concentration of morphine in 6,100 tons of raw opium will make it possible to get more than 870 tons of heroins.
On Saturday October 21, 2006, we were told that Afghan authorities seized about 16 tons of drugs in the past 10 days across the country. The seizures included one ton of heroin, seven tons of opium and eight tons of marijuana. The authorities have arrested more than a dozen men involved in drug smuggling. Afghanistan will produce 6,100 tons of opium this year, a rise of 49 percent from last year. This amount accounts for 92 percent of the world's total supply. itimate even more the provisional government that, until now, only controls Kabul and the vicinity, the rest of the country being in the hands of warlords. A long delay of the elections would also be a blow to the US and Britain that promised a fast return to democracy after the Taliban were thrown out of power.
The Afghan government has for the first time on November 7, 2006, accepted
that aerial chemical spraying could be considered to curb the cultivation
of opium poppies. Poppy production across Afghanistan has increased by 60%
since 2005. Local people in the southern Helmand province, which cultivates
more than a quarter of Afghanistan's poppies, claim there has already been
clandestine spraying which reduced the province's poppy yield by more that
half last year. They say the spraying also badly affected other crops and
that some people complained of skin conditions.
Heroin production has rocketed in Afghanistan over the past five years despite
the presence of Nato troops we were told on November 14, 2006. Afghanistan
supplies almost 90 per cent of the world's heroin and a record opium harvest,
the raw material for the drug, is expected this year. Since April alone,
police has confiscated more than 13.5 tonnes of narcotics.
On November 30, 2006, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
representation in Afghanistan announced that most illegal drugs smuggled
from the country were ending up in Iran or being transited via there. The
drugs also transited via Iran to European states and the North American
continent. Drug smuggling and sales in Iran is approximately a 10-billion-dollar
market each year. Iran's government is under close scrutiny for the level
of narcotics found in Iranian cities. Many experts fear that certain departments
and officials within the Iranian regime are overseeing foreign narcotics
imports.
On December 10, 2006, Afghanistan has agreed to poppy-spraying measures
in a desperate bid to deflate the soaring drugs trade.
Dutch soldiers serving in the NATO force in Afghanistan will not take part in the destruction of opium poppy crops because it is counterproductive to efforts to build public support for reconstruction, a government minister said on January 30, 2007.
Despite efforts by the Afghan government and the international community, the drug control situation in the country is worsening, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said on March 2, 2007. The production of illicit opium poppy in Afghanistan reached a record 6,100 tons in 2006, up almost 50 percent from the previous year.
Afghanistan's opium harvest could be bigger than last year's record crop, the director of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime said on March 7, 2007. His office released an assessment of winter planting trends, which shows an increase in 15 provinces, no change in 6 provinces, and a decrease in 7 provinces. Six of Afghanistan's 34 provinces have no poppies.
The international community is making significant strides toward ridding northern Afghanistan of opium, a US counter-narcotics official said on Friday March 9, 2007, despite setbacks in the Taliban-controlled south and forecasts of another record year of poppy cultivation. In a few years, Schweich hopes the entire northern half of Afghanistan will be opium-free.
When the Taliban ordered Afghanistan's fields cleared of opium poppies seven years ago because of Islam's ban on drugs, fearful farmers complied en masse. Now on April 10, 2007, officials say the militia nets tens of millions by forcing farmers to plant poppies and taxing the harvest, driving the country's skyrocketing opium production to fund the fight against what they consider an even greater evil -US and NATO troops. Corrupt government officials, both low-level police and high-level leaders, also protect the drug trade in exchange for bribes, a recent UN report found. Warlords and major landowners welcome the instability the Taliban brings to the country's southern regions, causing poppy eradication efforts to fail.
Last year's record poppy harvest was a record with a street value of more
than $3 billion we were told on April 27, 2007. The problem of this illegal
raw opium market is that part of it finances the resurgent Taliban fighters.
Profits from Afghanistan's thriving poppy fields are increasingly flowing
to Taliban fighters we were told on May 21, 2007. This year's heroin-producing
poppy crop will at least match last year's record haul and could exceed
it by up to 20 percent, meaning more money to fuel the Taliban's violent
insurgency.
Afghanistan has stepped up its efforts to eradicate poppy crops in 2007 after producing a record amount of the key ingredient for heroin production last year, a senior United Nations official said on May 27, 2007. Officials have destroyed some 25,000 hectares of opium poppy fields so far this year, compared to 15,000 hectares during all of 2006.
Afghanistan's poppy crop in 2007 could yield even more opium than last year's record harvest because of favourable weather conditions, a United Nations official said Monday June 25, 2007. Afghanistan's opium crop grew 59 percent in 2006 to 407,000 acres, yielding a record crop of 6,100 tons, enough to make 610 tons of heroin -90 percent of the world's supply. Western and Afghan officials say they expect a similar crop this year. There are close links between Taliban insurgents and criminal networks that deal in drugs. A significant portion of the profits from the US$3.1 billion trade is thought to flow to Taliban fighters, who tax and protect poppy farmers and drug runners.
A UN report released Tuesday June 26, 2007, showed that the "runaway train of drug addiction" has slowed, with estimated levels of global use holding steady for the third year in a row. Afghanistan's opium production, however, increased dramatically. The 2007 World Drug Report released by the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime found that 200 million people -or 5 percent of the world's population aged between 15 and 64- used drugs at least once in the previous 12 months.
On August 4, 2007, we were told that Afghanistan will produce another record
poppy harvest this year. UN figures to be released in September are expected
to show that Afghanistan's poppy production has risen up to 15 percent since
2006 and that the country now accounts for 95 percent of the world's crop,
3 percentage points more than last year.
The U.N. drugs watchdog said on March 5, 2008, Afghanistan is steadily expanding its illegal drug production and must take tougher action to end it. Afghanistan supplies an estimated 93 percent of the global market of illegal opiates, such as heroin, opium, and morphine. Illicit poppy production has increased 17 percent this year, despite efforts by the international community to stop it. The Afghan government must address the problem.
Afghan police seized a massive stockpile of hashish, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said on Wednesday June 11, 2008. The police found a stockpile of hash, about 261 tons in the Spin Buldak area of Kandahar province, hidden in several trenches. The hash has an estimated regional wholesale value of $400 million. The Taliban, which finances its operations in part from the illegal drug trade, would have made about $14 million from the sale of the drugs.
A former top U.S. official, Thomas Schweich, said on July 23, 2008, that President Hamid Karzai is obstructing the fight against Afghanistan's narcotics trade and protecting drug lords for political reasons. Until June he was one of State Department's top counternarcotics .He wrote that although the Taliban insurgency fighting Karzai's government profits from drugs, the president is reluctant to move against big drug lords in the country's south where most opium and heroin is produced because it is his political power base.
On July 24, 2008, the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai vehemently rejected allegations that he has been obstructing counter-narcotics efforts and protecting drug lords. Mr Schweich said the Afghan government is deeply involved in shielding the opium trade, and drug traffickers are buying off hundreds of police chiefs, judges and other officials.
On Wednesday July 30, 2008, Afghan authorities released a television talk
show host, Nasir Fayaz, critical of the government following an outcry in
the media over his detention, which lasted two days. Afghan intelligence
agents detained Fayaz on Monday after the government alleged that he made
"baseless accusations" against two ministers and called for his
prosecution.
NATO Supreme Allied Commander General John Craddock on Thursday September 25, 2008, urged the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to increase its role in fighting narcotics.
When Afghan security forces found an enormous cache of heroin hidden outside Kandahar in 2004, the local Afghan commander quickly impounded the truck and notified his boss. Before long, the commander, Habibullah Jan, received a telephone call from Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai, asking him to release the vehicle and the drugs. He said he complied after getting a phone call from an aide to President Karzai directing him to release the truck. Two years later, American and Afghan counternarcotics forces stopped another truck, this time near Kabul, finding more than 110 pounds of heroin. Soon after the seizure, United States investigators told other American officials that they had discovered links between the drug shipment and a bodyguard believed to be an intermediary for Ahmed Wali Karzai. The assertions about the involvement of the president's brother in the incidents were never investigated. Both President Karzai and Ahmed Wali Karzai, now the chief of the Kandahar Provincial Council, dismiss the allegations as politically motivated attacks by long-time foes.
NATO defence ministers agreed on Friday October 10, 2008, to use NATO troops
to attack the country's spiralling drug trade. The ministers adopted a US
proposal to use NATO 50,000 troops in Afghanistan against drug facilities.
The measure requires that individual NATO members authorize the use of their
troops before they can be deployed. The Taliban and its al-Qaida allies
earn as much as $80 million a year from illicit opium trade.
Afghan and coalition troops seized 40 tonnes of hashish on November 3, 2008, during a raid in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, but also grows large quantities of cannabis -the plant used to produce hashish and marijuana.
After seven years of extraordinary expansion, Afghanistan's harvest of
poppies used to produce opium has declined by 6% from a record high in 2007,
the United Nations said on Thursday November 27, 2008. The amount of land
used to cultivate opium declined by 19%, to about 388,000 acres.
Afghan forces backed by the US-led Coalition forces discovered and destroyed over two tons of marijuana in a local school in southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Friday December 19, 2008. Afghanistan produces over 90 percent of the world's opium as Taliban militants benefit nearly 500 million US dollars from opium trade in 2008.
Police killed 10 drugs smugglers in clashes in eastern Iran and seized more than 1,000 kgs of narcotics in the past three days, we were old on Saturday.
Afghanistan's production of opium poppies will likely decrease in 2009,
but cultivation of the illegal crop remains entrenched in the country's
most unstable southern provinces, the UN said Sunday February 1, 2009.
Afghanistan's opium harvest fell in 2008 after international efforts to persuade farmers to switch crops but was still the second biggest on record, we were told on Thursday February 19, 2009. While the area under cultivation was reduced by a fifth, better yields meant production dropped only 6 percent to 7,700 tons, after a record 8,200 tons in 2007.
Afghan counter-drug officials destroyed 6.5 tons of drugs and precursor chemicals in a raging bonfire Sunday April 26, 2009. The drugs were confiscated by authorities over the last three to four months.
American and Afghan forces seized 16.5 tons of drugs and killed 34 militants during a three-day operation against a key insurgent stronghold in southern Afghanistan, we were told on Thursday May 21, 2009. The narcotics were taken following an operation in the village of Marjah, a major drug-processing hub in Helmand province, which is the world's largest opium poppy producing region.
The cultivation of crops for making illegal drugs has declined steeply in both Afghanistan and Colombia, the world's largest producers of heroin and cocaine we were told on June 24, 2009. Opium poppy cultivation fell 19 per cent in Afghanistan last year and coca leaf farming dropped 18 per cent in Colombia. The reductions reflect falls in the prices offered to farmers for their illicit crops, and stable or declining demand in the West. But the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said that it had identified a probable rise in the use and production of synthetic drugs, such as amphetamines, methamphetamines and Ecstasy, in the developing world.
Poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan have decreased sharply, according to a United Nations report released September 2, 2009. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime says cultivation has dropped 22% in a year and opium production by 10%, with the biggest falls in Helmand province.
A mystery disease infecting opium poppies in Afghanistan could cut this
year's illicit crop in some areas by up to 70 percent, we were told on Sunday
May 16, 2010. Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium,
the raw material for making heroin, mainly in the provinces of Helmand and
Kandahar in the south and Farah in southwest.
The Afghan government said on July 4, 2010, that 63 drug smugglers and militants have been killed and 14.5 tonnes of drugs and drug-making chemicals have been destroyed in southern Afghanistan. 10 other men involved in the drug trade, including some foreigners, were arrested in a two-day operation conducted by a counternarcotics unit assisted by coalition forces along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. 14 Afghan civilians being held by the militants and smugglers were freed during the operation at Baramcha in southern Helmand province. A cache of weapons, explosives and suicide vests was found and two drug laboratories were destroyed.
Opium production in Afghanistan has been halved we were told on September 30, 2010, but with supply dwindling, prices might increase and entice farmers to start growing the illicit crop again. The diminished production was mostly the result of disease infecting plants in the major poppy-growing provinces of Helmand and Kandahar in the south. But the report also noted that overall cultivation levels remained the same. Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's opium, the key ingredient used to make heroin and a funding stream for Taliban extremists. The United States and its allies have spent millions combating its growth.
Profits from Afghanistan's opium trade rose markedly this year despite a sharp drop in production we were told on Thursday September 30, 2010. A plant infection that struck poppy crops in Helmand and Kandahar provinces slashed production in half, but the drop in supply sent prices soaring. Afghanistan produced enough poppy plants this year to make an estimated 3,600 metric tons of opium, the lowest yield since 2003. Cultivation remained relatively steady across the board.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and a multinational task force of U.S. military troops, Afghan police, and Russian officials on Thursday October 28, 2010, seized nearly $56 million dollars in heroin in a raid targeting drug labs in Nangarhar Province near Jalabad. Four clandestine laboratories were discovered, including three used for processing heroin and one used for "converting morphine."
Driven by soaring opium prices, farmers are expected to plant more poppies in parts of Afghanistan that were previously poppy free we were told Monday April 18, 2011. Poppy planting is expected to be down slightly over all because of modest decreases in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. Officials expected significant increases in the north and northeast provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan and Faryab, as well as the southern and western provinces of Herat, Kapisa and Ghor. Baghlan, Faryab, Kapisa and Ghor were all poppy free in 2010. Sixteen of the country's 34 provinces are expected to remain poppy free, a decrease from 20 last year. Prices for dry opium jumped 306 percent this year, to $281 a kilogram from $69 last year. It was the second consecutive year of sharp increases.
Afghan and coalition combined security forces seized and destroyed large quantities of marijuana seeds and hashish in Zharay district, Kandahar province on Tuesday August 23, 2011.
Despite increased efforts to destroy fields of opium poppies and wean Afghan
farmers off the country's biggest cash crop, poppy cultivation in Afghanistan
rose in 2011 and spread into areas once declared "poppy free,"
according to a United Nations survey released Tuesday October 11, 2011.
The United Nations drug control agency said that insecurity and soaring
opium prices in Afghanistan -the world's largest opium producer- were the
driving factors in a 7 percent increase in the amount of land sown with
poppies. It was the second year in a row of rising poppy cultivation
Revenue from opium production in Afghanistan soared by 133 percent in 2011 to about $1.4 billion, or about one-tenth of the country's GDP we were told on Friday January 13, 2012. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said the price rise was due to a plant disease that wiped out much of the opium crop in 2010. Although yields returned to pre-blight levels in 2011, the prices have remained high. Opium is a significant part of the Afghan economy and provides considerable funding to the insurgency and fuels corruption.
A massive shipment of hash, disguised as "specially formulated"
chocolate drink flavouring and hidden in hollowed-out particle board before
being shipped out of Afghanistan for Toronto was discovered on Monday 13,
2012 . Five men -four Canadians and a Dutch national- were arrested in Toronto
when they tried to pick up the 500 wood boards from the sea container. Another
man was arrested earlier in the Republic of Tajikistan, where the load was
first discovered before its wending. Most of the expected cargo -5.7 tonnes
of hash, with an estimated street value of $69-millio- had not even made
it out of Asia. After the load was discovered in the mountainous country
of Tajikistan local police contacted the RCMP, starting a complicated international
effort.
The other war in Afghanistan -the one to reduce the opium poppy crop by eradication, crop trade-offs and threats- has seen substantial gains over the past five years as cultivation has dropped 32 percent. But, we were told on Friday April 20, 2012, one key anti-poppy program called the "Food Zone" is now in jeopardy as the State Department decides whether it wants to pick up the bill to persuade farmers to banish heroin-producing poppies in favour of wheat, pomegranates, saffron and other crops. Opium poppy surveys shows cultivation peaked at 477,000 acres in 2007, and has since dropped to the 323,700 acres.
A fresh blight is poised to hit Afghanistan's poppy fields this year, driving up opium prices and threatening to fuel a shift to potentially lethal heroin substitutes like "krokodil", we were told on Tuesday June 26, 2012. Plant diseases destroyed nearly half the 2010 opium harvest but output there rebounded 61 percent last year. That helped put global opium production at 7,000 metric tons in 2011, still more than a fifth below the 2007 peak.
On Tuesday November 20, 2012 we were told that land under opium cultivation in Afghanistan increased 18% in 2012, despite a decade of efforts by the international community to get Afghan farmers to switch to legal, though less lucrative, crops. Despite the increase, however, a poppy blight and bad weather has meant 36% lower "potential opium production" in 2012 compared with 2011.
On Tuesday November 20, 2012 we were told that land under opium cultivation in Afghanistan increased 18% in 2012, despite a decade of efforts by the international community to get Afghan farmers to switch to legal, though less lucrative, crops. Despite the increase, however, a poppy blight and bad weather has meant 36% lower "potential opium production" in 2012 compared with 2011.
Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan is fast becoming a major source of opium in the country we were told on Tuesday November 27, 2012. Both the Taliban and the commander of a private local militia appear to be reaping enormous profits from growing the illegal crop. And there doesn't seem to be anything the local authorities can do about it. With a 10-acre plot, Abdul Habib, a farmer, is making about $24,000 a year. That's a lot of money by Afghan standards.
For the third year in a row, opium cultivation has increased across Afghanistan, erasing earlier drops stemming from a decade-long international and Afghan government effort to combat the drug trade we were told on Monday April 15, 2013. Afghanistan is already the world’s largest producer of opium, and last year accounted for 75 percent of the world’s heroin supply. The assumption is it will reach again to 90 percent this year. Opium cultivation had increased in 12 of the country’s 34 provinces. Herat, in western Afghanistan, is the only province in which cultivation is expected to decrease. Taliban insurgents took advantage of insecurity in several provinces to assist opium farmers and win popular support. Over all, the number of acres devoted this year to opium poppy cultivation is expected to top the figure in 2008, when poppy plantings reached a peak of 388,000 acres. After 2008, eradication efforts, as well as a cash incentive program for provinces that eradicated all opium poppy crops, helped reduce cultivation drastically through 2010.
On Thursday June 27, 2013 we were told that Afghanistan once again was the world’s largest opium producer in 2012, churning out 74 % of the world illegal opium. Afghanistan’s drug-fueled economy both funds the insurgency there and threatens to further undermine the country’s fragile economy and security. Afghanistan has more than one million drug users. Easy availability of opiates, corruption and a population now in its third decade of war has resulted in the increased distribution and use of illegal drugs, as people to try and escape the hardships of their daily lives.
On Wednesday November 13, 2013, we were told that Afghanistan's farmers planted a record opium crop this year, despite a decade of western-backed narcotics programs aimed at weaning farmers off the drug and cracking down on producers and traffickers. For the first time over 200,000 hectares of Afghan fields were growing poppies. This is the third consecutive year of increasing cultivation. The assumption is that the illicit economy is to gain in importance in the future. ---
On Tuesday December 31, 201`3, we were told that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan surged to record heights in 2013, increasing for the third straight year in a row and confirming the country’s status as the world’s No. 1 exporter of the opium crop. According to the UN two factors were behind the rise in cultivation: high opium prices and speculation due to the withdrawal of U.S. and international troops from Afghanistan. Cultivation of the crop spread to two previously poppy-free provinces, Faryab and Balkh, in northern Afghanistan.
Afghanistan needs more financial assistance for its anti-narcotics fight after opium cultivation hit a record high last year we were told on Wednesday January 15, 2014. Despite more than a decade of efforts to wean farmers off the crop, fight corruption and cut links between drugs and the Taliban insurgency, poppy expanded to 209,000 hectares in 2013, up 36 percent from the previous year. ---
America's drug war in Afghanistan is failing badly, a U.S. government watchdog says Wednesday October 22, 2014. Afghan farmers are growing bumper crops of opium poppies -an unprecedented 209,000 hectares in 2013-- even though U.S. agencies spent $7.6 billion to stop narcotics production in the nation. Afghanistan is the source of 80% of the world's illegal opium yielding $3 billion in sales in 2013, up from $2 billion from the previous year. U.S. authorities say a big chunk of that money funds Afghanistan's insurgency and terrorism.
On Thursday October 30, 2014, we were told that more than 20 tons of drugs have been seized and burned in Afghanistan. Afghan counter-narcotic authorities confiscated drugs including raw opium, hashish and chemicals used to process opium into heroin. The large haul was incinerated in Kabul where soldiers covered the load in petrol and set it on fire. Afghanistan is known for supplying 90 percent of the world's opium.
On Wednesday November 12, 2014, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says Afghanistan’s potential opium production for 2014 is set to increase by 27% from the previous year, up to an estimated 6,400 tons. The Afghan poppy crop has provided the bulk of the world’s heroin supply over the past twenty years, accounting for nearly 70% of it in 2000. Opium poppy cultivation has risen by 7% year on year and now covers more than 553,000 acres of land. The overwhelming majority of cultivation takes place in the Southern and Western provinces, parts of the country which have been subject to the most violence and are the least secure. Opium accounts for nearly $1 billion, roughly 4% of the country’s estimated GDP. ---
After thirteen years of occupation by U.S. forces, Afghanistan set a record for growing opium poppies in 2014 we were told Wednesday January 7, 2015. Heroin is derived from the poppy. The total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was estimated to be 224,000 hectares in 2014, a 7% increase from the previous year.
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose seven per cent from 209,000 hectares in 2013 to 224,000 hectares, according to the 2014 Afghanistan Opium Survey released last November by the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
This year, many Afghan poppy farmers are expecting a windfall as they get ready to harvest opium from a new variety of poppy seeds said to boost yield of the resin that produces heroin. The plants grow bigger, faster, use less water than seeds they've used before, and give up to double the amount of opium. No one seems to know where the seeds originate from. The farmers of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, where most of Afghanistan's poppies are grown, say they were hand-delivered for planting early this year by the same men who collect the opium after each harvest, and who also provide them with tools, fertilizer, farming advice and the much needed cash advance.
Afghanistan remains awash in opium, despite $8.2 billion in American taxpayer dollars spent since 2002 to curb its rampant drug production and trade we were told Thursday July 30, 2015. The country’s own drug use rates remain among the highest in the world. A 2014 World Drug Report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime confirmed Afghanistan again leads the world in opium production and for the third consecutive year saw more land being used for poppy farming —a record 520,000 acres— despite U.S. efforts.
A survey by the United Nations and the Afghan government has shown a drop in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, the first decline in six years. The decrease comes after a decade-long counternarcotic effort. The 19 percent decrease in cultivation reported on Wednesday October 14, 2015, was mainly due to unfavorable weather conditions. The annual survey, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Afghanistan's Ministry of Counter Narcotics, showed 183,000 hectares in opium poppy cultivation in 2015, down from 224,000 hectares in 2014. Average opium yield per hectare was also down 36 percent. The Taliban are heavily involved in poppy cultivation, as the plant can be processed into heroin. Opium production in Afghanistan had been on the rise since US occupation of the country began in 2001. ---
On Friday October 21, 2016, we were told that opium production in Afghanistan has increased by 43% in the past year. The area used to farm the poppy plant, the source of opium, increased by 10% to 201,000 hectares. Better farming conditions resulted in a higher yield per hectare, increasing overall production. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of the substance, which is the main ingredient in heroin. Growing opium is a crime in the country, but it is still a major cash crop for impoverished farming communities. The Taliban also taxes poppy production in areas it controls, which is a major source of income for its military activities.
The Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed Friday December 16, 2016 that a counternarcotic operation targeting the militant extremist group in Afghanistan resulted in the largest known seizure of heroin in Afghanistan, if not the world. Altogether they netted 6.4 tons of heroin base and 12.5 tons of morphine base along with 134 kilograms of opium, 129 kilograms of crystal heroin and 12 kilograms of hashish from the "superlab" located in Farah near the country's border with Iran. ---
On Friday October 21, 2016, we were told that opium production in Afghanistan has increased by 43% in the past year. The area used to farm the poppy plant, the source of opium, increased by 10% to 201,000 hectares. Better farming conditions resulted in a higher yield per hectare, increasing overall production. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of the substance, which is the main ingredient in heroin. Growing opium is a crime in the country, but it is still a major cash crop for impoverished farming communities. The Taliban also taxes poppy production in areas it controls, which is a major source of income for its military activities.
The Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed Friday December 16, 2016 that a counternarcotic operation targeting the militant extremist group in Afghanistan resulted in the largest known seizure of heroin in Afghanistan, if not the world. Altogether they netted 6.4 tons of heroin base and 12.5 tons of morphine base along with 134 kilograms of opium, 129 kilograms of crystal heroin and 12 kilograms of hashish from the "superlab" located in Farah near the country's border with Iran.
Illegal poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has surged by 10 percent we were told Saturday March 18, 2017. Besides the traditional areas of poppy cultivation in the country’s south and southwest, the northern province of Badghes has fueled much of this year’s surge in illegal poppy cultivation. The fall in poppy cultivation registered in a number of provinces last year was negatively influenced by up to 17,000 hectares of poppy cultivation in Badghes this year.
Afghanistan Wednesday November 15, 2017:
Afghanistan Tuesday November 21, 2017:
Afghanistan Thursday November 23, 2017:
Afghanistan Monday January 1, 2018:
Afghanistan Friday March 16, 2018: