Deadly Harvest: Afghanistan Opium Cultivation Poses Challenges

AFGHANISTAN - Since the Taliban abolition in Afghanistan, insurgency is picking up steam. Adding insult to the injury, unparalleled augmentation of opium poppy cultivation throws challenges to anti-drug organizations. A U.N report says that a significant (almost 14%) percentage of Afghan population is involved in poppy cultivation and more than 80 percent of world’s opium is cultivated along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Three years back US and UK had launched a big project to stop the cultivation, or least minimized it in Afghanistan. The much fanfare efforts have borne a little result. According to a report published three years back, Afghanistan alone produces 8,200 tonnes of opium in a year. The agricultural lands of poppy cultivation have also increased from 165,000 hectares to 193,000 hectares (2007 UNODC report).

A report said that Helmand province where still Taliban holds grip, is a major area of narcotic trade and cultivation. The demand of drugs in west gives a lucrative opportunity to Afghan farmers. An Afghan farmer can expect to earn $4,600 a hectare annually if he cultivates opium poppy. Comparing to wheat cultivation, a farmer can earn a meager $530 a year.

The U.N has triggered an alarm over the drug trafficking along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and asking foreign forces to wrestle against the peril.

“Since drug trafficking and insurgency alive off each other, the foreign military forces operating in Afghanistan have a vested interest in supporting counter-narcotics operations” UNODC Executive Director said.

The Taliban has a stronghold on the drugs trafficking. Like insurgent groups and guerilla forces in other parts of the world, the Taliban considers the taxing of revenues from the drug trade a legitimate tactic to fight the occupation forces. One of the biggest markets for heroin is the affluent West. But the easy availability of the drug has also helped it find new markets in neighboring countries.

According to UNODC report, opium production kills directly or indirectly over one hundred thousand people worldwide. The report said that most of these deaths would occur in China, India and South-East Asia. The addiction rates in Central Asian countries are said to be rising say that Taliban fighters are much better paid and motivated than the Afghan army personnel.