Last week new satellite maps were released by the British geospatial analysis firm Alcis, confirming the Kabul government reports that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan remains very low, for the second crop year in a row. In fact, the 2024 poppy-cultivated area is down to less than 4,000 hectares, down from 16,000 HA in 2023. And the 2023 level was already 95% below the year before, after the Taliban banned opium poppy cultivation in April 2022. This is a spectacular success, since the opium poppy area had reached over 230,000 hectares in a recent year under the U.S./NATO occupation.
The Alcis report, released on July 25, provides information on 14 of the 34 Afghan provinces, which had accounted for over 99% of national production prior to 2023, which in turn was around 80% of world opium poppy output.
Farmers have switched to growing wheat, leaving land fallow, or growing vegetables or fruit, depending on the agro-ecological conditions and resources. The government is trying to supply help in the form of seeds, fertilizer and other inputs, but lacks the means. The international sanctions and other bans are causing severe hardship.
However, the international community, with a few exceptions, is not coming to the support of the Afghan farmers, despite the obvious world benefit from eliminating dangerous narcotics. In fact, Washington is calling for donor nations to refuse help to Afghan farmers. The sick argument is that, since farmers get more money for dope, the Taliban government is harming its own poor farmers by denying them an income. One degenerate spokesman for this is William Byrd, of the Congressionally-chartered United States Institute for Peace. See his June 20, 2024 article, “As Taliban Poppy Ban Continues, Afghan Poverty Deepens.”
The new Alcis report has a focus on the province of Badakhshan, and emits crocodile tears over how harmful and divisive the Taliban poppy ban is: “Sowing the Seeds of Division in Badakhshan; A second consecutive year of a poppy ban in Afghanistan, but at what price?”
The Taliban recently repeated their call for international support at a two-day national conference on labor in Kabul, July 23-24. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on the first day: “The illegal production of drugs has ceased. The addicts [referring to more than 4 million in Afghanistan] are now in need of medical treatment while the farmers need livelihoods and employment.” TOLONews quotes him as saying that the “international community questions us and makes demands, asking about the status of narcotics, how it will be banned, how security will be ensured, and how the use of Afghan territory by groups will be prevented. Their demands are like this, but their cooperation is zero. We hope the international community will fulfill its responsibilities in this regard.” He went on, instead of this: “They have imposed sanctions on Afghan trade, travel, and banking sectors, in breach of the universal, fundamental human rights.”
