The Taliban is conducting a campaign to destroy poppy farming in Afghanistan in order to eliminate the country’s vast output of opium and heroin. ‘We are determined to eradicate poppy cultivation,’ said Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Nafi Takor. It comes after the Taliban issued an edict prohibiting opium cultivation throughout the nation in early April.
The Taliban’s deputy interior minister for counternarcotics, Mullah Abdul Haq Akhund, told The Associated Press in Helmand’s provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, that individuals who violate the prohibition ‘would be detained and convicted according to Sharia rules in appropriate courts’. He stated that the Taliban was in contact with other governments and non-governmental groups in order to develop alternative crops for farmers.
Despite billions of dollars spent by the US to discourage poppy growth, output has skyrocketed over the last 20 years. Afghanistan is not just the world’s largest opium grower, but it is also a key supplier of heroin throughout Europe and Asia. Afghanistan’s economy has crumbled since the Taliban took power, and the ban would undoubtedly hit millions of destitute farmers and day laborers who rely on agricultural profits to live.
Afghanistan, which is experiencing its most severe drought in years, is facing a humanitarian catastrophe, with the majority of its population unable to purchase food. Opium harvesting from poppies may earn $300 per month, and villages rely on it to borrow money for necessities like bread, sugar, cooking oil, and heating oil.
According to UNODC predictions, 177,000 hectares (438,000 acres) of poppies will be planted in 2021, providing enough opium to make up to 650 tonnes of heroin. As per the UNODC’s most recent study, the overall value of Afghanistan’s opiate production in 2021 would be $1.8-$2.7 billion, accounting for up to 14% of the country’s GDP and exceeding the value of legal exports.
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