RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi April 14, 2022 Wali Jan, a farmer in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, is expected to soon harvest poppies from his half-hectare farm. Standing in his blooming poppy field in Garni, an impoverished village on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Tarin Kowt, Jan is upset by the Taliban’s decision this
Tolo News: Niaz Mohammad, a farmer in Kandahar province, said that he cultivated poppy plants on 250 acres of land, where dozens of people are working on the farms. “Until our government stops us from cultivating it, we will not stop cultivating poppy. We don’t care about the westerners,” said Niaz Mohammad, a farmer. “It
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 3, 2022 Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government has banned the cultivation of poppies, which are used to produce opium and other drugs. The April 3 order by the de facto authorities said poppy crops would be burned and farmers would face punishments under Shari’a law. The decree was read out to a
Tolo News: The cultivation of poppy for opium production has surged in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar this year compared to previous years, farmers said. “There is nothing else to cultivate. We were growing wheat before. This year—we want to cultivate poppy. Previously they were asking for bribes every day but we don’t
Roshan Noorzai VOA News December 11, 2021 Farmers in Afghanistan say that they will continue to grow poppy amid uncertainty over the Taliban’s poppy eradication policy. “We have no choice but to cultivate opium poppy,” said Noor, 52, a farmer living in a remote village in the western Farah province. For safety reasons, he did
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 17, 2021 Afghanistan’s illegal opium production increased by 8 percent in 2021 compared to last year, the United Nations said, as the opiates from the war-torn country continue to dominate the international black market, supplying 8-in-10 users worldwide. Afghanistan harvested 6,800 tons of opium in 2021, the UN Office on
The Guardian (UK): The Taliban’s announcement that it plans to ban the production of opium in Afghanistan does not faze seasoned dealer Ahmed Khan. “They could not fund their war if there were no opium,” says Khan, who operates out of Baramcha, close to the border with Pakistan. The Taliban has benefited the most from
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