of America Afghanistan The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has stated in its latest report that in 2023, opium or poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has decreased by 95% compared to previous years.
However In this report dated July 30 It was also informed that thousands of farmers have lost their capital worth billions of rupees due to lack of cultivation and they have no other option.
SIGAR issues a quarterly report on the situation in Afghanistan that examines various sectors.
According to the same report, it has been expressed surprise that United States spent nearly nine billion dollars (2500 billion rupees) on drug prevention in 20 years, but no substantial results could be obtained. However, the Taliban have controlled it in a short period of time.
Opium first appeared in Afghanistan in the 18th century, but production increased after the 1970s.
According to Segar’s report, the Afghan Taliban have also been dependent on opium revenue, but in the past they have banned it on religious grounds.
The Afghan Taliban banned poppy cultivation in 1996 during their first rule, but it did not show any significant results.
After that, the Taliban imposed a ban five times on different occasions, but after the ban in 2000, opium cultivation decreased from 82,000 acres of land to 8,000 acres.
According to the report, the same ban resulted in less support for the Taliban when the Taliban government fell in 2001, as the Taliban banned opium at a time when the poppy crop was ready.
Why America failed to prevent drugs?
The report also covers why the United States has failed to stop drugs despite spending nine billion dollars from 2001 to 2021.
The reasons state that after the ban, complaints from the local population to the international community increased and that the ban at the time benefited private militias, politicians, landlords and Afghan security forces.
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The second reason, according to the report, was that there was a false narrative at the time that 60 percent of the Taliban’s income came from opium, and the United States used to make policies based on that, which caused the public to become more close to the Taliban because the Americans Heroin laboratories were bombed and poppy plantations were forcibly destroyed.
Banned by Taliban in 2022
After the establishment of caretaker government by the Afghan Taliban, the Taliban banned the cultivation of poppy and the head of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Hibatullah Akhunzada, issued a fatwa against it.
The fatwa stated that there would be a total ban on the cultivation of poppy and the cultivators would be punished according to Islamic Shari’a.
However, after the ban in 2021, poppy cultivation increased by 32% in 2022, while poppy prices increased by 300% and growers also started stockpiling opium.
Opium cultivation subsequently fell by 85 percent in 2023, according to the report, while the United Nations Office on Drug Control reported a 95 percent drop in cultivation, but the trade continued because some growers kept stocks of opium.
Due to decrease in cultivation, prices also increased. According to the report, the price of opium per kg in May 2022 was around Rs 44,000, but in May 2023, the price had reached around Rs 80,000 per kg.
Loss to farmers due to lack of poppy cultivation
The report states that while there has been a reduction in cultivation, on the other hand farmers have been left helpless and few farmers have been given the facility to cultivate wheat instead.
According to the report, the income from wheat is less than that of poppy and therefore it is difficult to compete with the low priced wheat imported from Pakistan.
In terms of income, according to the report, the income of farmers has decreased by 92% and the income has decreased from one billion dollars in 2022 to 100 million dollars in 2023.
Similarly, after the ban, according to the report, the prices of stored poppy have also increased tremendously.
According to the report, in August 2023, the price of opium per kg was one lakh rupees, while in December 2023, the price of opium per kg reached two lakh rupees.
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2024-08-07 08:26:57
