8am: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has estimated that opiate trafficking, primarily heroin, from Afghanistan through Central Asia to Russia generates approximately $10 billion in gross annual revenue. The report, released on Thursday, June 26, 2025, draws on data from 2022 and 2023, identifying Afghanistan as a primary hub for narcotics
8am: The United Nations has reported in a recent assessment that the price of one kilogram of opium in Afghanistan has increased tenfold compared to previous years. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) stated in its report that following the Taliban’s ban on opium cultivation, the price of this substance has sharply risen,
Ariana: A Spanish newspaper has reported that the drastic drop in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has opened a gap for fentanyl in Europe. A report from the European Drug Monitoring Center warns of the risk that a possible lack of global supply will be replaced with “more harmful synthetic opiates, such as fentanyl derivatives or
VOA News Zsombor Peter December 12, 2023 BANGKOK — Myanmar has overtaken Afghanistan as the world’s top opium producer in 2023 after a third consecutive year of expanding cultivation fueled by the country’s civil war, the United Nations says in a new report. After more than two decades as the world’s leading supplier of opium, Afghanistan
8am: Amirabbas Lotfi, the spokesperson for the Iranian Anti-Drug Headquarters, made this announcement on Tuesday, November 28, in response to a recent United Nations report on the reduction of opium cultivation in Afghanistan, according to an ISNA report. Lotfi stated, “The income of Afghan farmers from opium cultivation in the past Gregorian year has suddenly
8am: This former parliament member adds that the Taliban, their families, and supporters are currently cultivating opium in large hidden compounds, each containing multiple acres of land, in remote regions in the southwest of the country, keeping it out of the public eye. He mentions that the leadership of this group is involved in the
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 5, 2023 ISLAMABAD — The United Nations said Sunday the Taliban’s ban on drugs in Afghanistan has resulted in a 95% drop in Afghan cultivation of opium poppies, used to make morphine and heroin. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime documented the “near-total-contraction” of the Afghan opiate economy in its
The Diplomat: The humongous trade is run by regional and multinational cartels with complex and elaborate illicit networks across the region. Politicians, security force personnel, and even the Taliban have been part of this symbiotic nexus, profiteering enormous amounts of money. Amid the anti-poppy measures of the Taliban, a record amount of Afghan drugs moved
WP: One year on, it’s not clear whether the Taliban will soon make a significant dent on a crop that the United Nations estimated accounts for one-tenth of the entire Afghan economy. The country’s poppy farmers supply the raw ingredients that, after being boiled into bricks, refined and exported to Europe via Iran and Pakistan,
Khaama: Several related economic activities are involved in Afghanistan drug trafficking. Cartels maintain a symbiotic relationship with the Taliban by giving farmers advances to plant ephedra and opium while providing the financial assistance necessary to keep the jihadist proto-state alive. These cartels use Pakistani sources to facilitate the acquisition of chemicals required to produce drugs.