Deccan Herald: … what this financial crisis will mean is that the Taliban may turn to drugs to fund their activities. While there can be no justification for drug peddling, it should not be forgotten that Afghanistan produces nearly 90% of the world’s illicit opium. Click here to read more (external link).
Reuters: Indian officials said on Tuesday they had seized nearly three tonnes of heroin originating from Afghanistan worth an estimated 200 billion rupees ($2.72 billion) amid the chaos following last month’s takeover of the country by the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).
New York Post: Between 2002 and 2019, American taxpayers spent at least $9 billion to eliminate or transform the poppy fields that produced almost all of the world’s heroin — but instead ended up tripling that production, quadrupling the acreage covered by the deadly flowers, and intensifying the insurgency that plagued the country. As a
Business Insider: The US is leaving behind a flourishing, violent trade in heroin and crystal meth in Afghanistan. The Om weed, which contains the key ingredient for making meth, grows wild in the mountains. One in 10 Afghans are said to be involved in the drug trade, about as many as are said to be
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 3, 2021 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – The United Nations said Monday that opium cultivation in conflict-ridden Afghanistan increased by 37% in 2020 compared to the previous year, potentially producing an estimated 6,300 tons of opium. The findings are part of a new survey the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Ariana: The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a report that the primary sources of income for the Taliban are narcotics, illicit mining, and other illegal activities. The report also notes that the Taliban now controls all aspects of narcotics production, which likely indicates that their total revenues are even higher. Click
Drug addicts in Farah City in Afghanistan’s Farah Province say they have been forced to work without pay for the local police. They claim they were made to work away from prying eyes on construction sites inside military compounds. The provincial offices of Afghanistan’s Labor and Social Affairs Ministry confirmed the allegations, but the local
Tolo News: Militant groups such as Taliban, al Qaeda and Daesh “are the main backers of drug trafficking” in Afghanistan, the counter-narcotics department of the Ministry of Interior said on Saturday. The ministry said the provinces such as Helmand, Nimroz, Farah and Badakhshan where the Taliban has more influence, poppy cultivation and drug processing “have
Hanif Sufizada via The Conversation: In the fiscal year that ended in March 2020, the Taliban reportedly brought in US$1.6 billion, according to Mullah Yaqoob, son of the late Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who revealed the Taliban’s income sources in a confidential report commissioned by NATO and later obtained by Radio Free Europe/Radio