‘Booming opium production to hit peace prospects’

NEW DELHI: As peace talks continue between Taliban and the US, the prospect of lasting peace appears bleak as Afghanistan’s booming illegal drug trade could continue to fuel violence, says the UN.

The latest UN data shows Afghanistan continues to produce disturbingly high levels of opium – accounting for 85% of the global supply. The country produced 6,400 tonnes of opium in 2018, considered by the UN as an alarmingly high.

“The area under opium cultivation remained at very high levels in 2018”, says the UN, even though the figure is comparatively lower than the previous year.

The fears were outlined in the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2018, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The UN body warns the opium glut will “continue to fuel instability, insurgency and provide funding to terrorist groups”.

In 2000, a year before the US launched its war on terror in Afghanistan, opium production stood at 3,276 tonnes.

After 17 years, the annual production rose to 9,000 tonnes before coming down to 6,400 tonnes in 2018 – still considered “very high” by the UN.

Throughout the 17-year war, opium production in Afghanistan has never fallen below the 3,300-tonne mark. It has always remained higher than the 3,276 tonnes produced in 2000.

The UNODC says one of the reasons behind the high output is the “improvement of agricultural productivity… which may have made opium cultivation increasingly profitable even under unfavourable natural conditions and falling prices”.

Illicit drug trade in Afghanistan practically generates jobs. In 2017, poppy weeding and harvesting provided up to 354,000 jobs, according to the UN.

Majority of the poppy cultivation takes place in the south, mainly in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.