8am: Mohammad Masoud Zahidian, the deputy head of Iran’s anti-narcotics headquarters, says that drug smuggling has increased from the country’s soil. Previously, Indian, Russian and Iranian officials have repeatedly expressed concerns about the increase in drug cultivation, production and trafficking in Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).
Khaama: Despite the Taliban government’s ban on drugs, opium cultivation increased by 32% in Afghanistan in 2022, according to a report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Following the announcement of the poppy cultivation ban in April, the report says that opium prices have skyrocketed. Sales of opium increased Afghan farmers’ income
FT: The price of illegal drugs has soared in Afghanistan since the Taliban outlawed the trade in one of the world’s biggest narcotics exporters, according to new data, despite limited evidence that the Islamist militants are enforcing the ban. Opium prices within Afghanistan have risen more than 50 per cent since the Taliban announced the
By Mursaleen Arsala and Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 18, 2022 In the spring, the Taliban announced a ban on the cultivation, trafficking, and use of illicit narcotics in Afghanistan, the world’s biggest producer of opium. But as the fall planting season for opium crops begins, the militant group appears to be turning
8am: The name and history of Taliban creation are associated with opium and drug trafficking, along with the implementation of strict and extreme religious practices. This spring, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of this group, issued an order prohibiting the cultivation, production, purchase, and sale of narcotics. But the findings of Hasht-e Subh Daily show
Akmal Dawi VOA News September 9, 2022 Unlike his predecessor, who almost terminated opium production in Afghanistan in the last year of Taliban rule with one decree in 2000, the current supreme leader of the Taliban appears to be unsuccessful in implementing his ban on opium production. In April, shortly after Afghan famers harvested opium
AP: During the years-long Taliban insurgency, the movement reportedly made millions of dollars taxing farmers and middlemen to move their drugs outside Afghanistan. Senior officials of the U.S.-backed government also reportedly made millions on the flourishing drug trade. Today, Afghanistan’s opium output is greater than all other opium-producing countries combined. Click here to read more
NYT: The multibillion-dollar trade has survived previous bans. Now, the Taliban are going after solar-powered water pumps to try to dry up poppy crops in the middle of a national economic crisis. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Local sources say the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has boosted opium markets and has encouraged poppy farmers to increase production and turn more lands into poppy cultivation fields. Click here to read more (external link).
VOA News April 15, 2022 A blanket ban on poppy cultivation by the Taliban emir is exacerbating Afghanistan’s already dire economic situation and could lead to armed uprisings against the Islamist regime, experts say. “This is a crazy policy at the worst possible time,” said William Byrd, senior Afghanistan expert at the U.S. Institute of