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Afghan opium trade on a
high
ROME - The annual autumn harvest
of opium in Afghanistan - a crop that all but disappeared
last year under the coalition bombing campaign
and ensuing rout of the Taliban government - has
roared back to life and is now exceeding even prewar
levels, a recent United Nations report has concluded.
| Year |
Opium
produced |
| 1994 |
3,400
tonnes |
| 1995 |
2,300
tonnes |
| 1996 |
2,200
tonnes |
| 1997 |
2,800
tonnes |
| 1998 |
2,700
tonnes |
| 1999 |
4,600
tonnes |
| 2000 |
3,300
tonnes |
| 2001 |
185
tonnes |
| 2002 |
3,400
tonnes | "The annual Afghanistan Opium Survey for 2002,
conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime [ODC, formerly known as the UN Office of Drug
Control and Crime Prevention] has confirmed earlier
indications of the considerable level of opium
production in the country this year," ODC executive
director Antonio Maria Costa says.
The report
blamed the "sustained increase" on what it called
"sustained high price levels for opium, as well as
favorable climatic conditions". The 3,400 tonnes of raw
opium from this year's harvest exceed earlier UN
estimates of between 1,900 and 2,700 tonnes of opium
resin and falls just slightly below the estimate by
Iranian Drug Control Headquarters chief Ali Hashemi, of
a yield of 3,500-4,000-tonnes that would be worth
approximately US$17.5 million to $20 million on the
Western black market.
Opium production in
Afghanistan involves huge vested economic interests.
Powerful and armed to the teeth warlords and druglords
support their dominance in their specific regions and
provinces via revenues generated from the lucrative drug
trade. A kilogram of opium sells for about $50 in
Western black markets. Moreover, poppies are very cheap
to produce because they grow in the wild naturally and
do not require special care or preservation.
Presenting the findings of the survey, Costa
said that 90 percent of cultivation was concentrated in
just five of Afghanistan's 32 provinces: Helmand in the
south, followed by Nangarhar in the east, Badakhshan in
the north, Uruzgan in the south/center and Kandahar in
the south.
"This year's survey has been
conducted under the most challenging circumstances
because of security concerns," he said. "The methodology
was therefore based on high-resolution satellite images
complemented by extensive ground verification and
targeted ground surveys."
The ODC has conducted
annual opium surveys in Afghanistan since 1994, tracking
the dramatic increase of the production in the Taliban
years. By the late 1990s, Afghanistan provided about 70
percent of global production of illicit opium, with
Myanmar accounting for 22 percent and the Laos about 3
percent. Illicit opiates of Afghan origin were consumed
by an estimated 9 million users worldwide (about
two-thirds of all opiate users in the world). According
to ODC estimates, about half a million people have been
involved in the international trade of illicit Afghan
opiates (opium, morphine, heroin) in recent years.
Total opium production in Afghanistan this year
is estimated to amount to 3,400 tonnes, which, although
25 percent lower than the record production of 1999
(4,600 tonnes), is still 100 tonnes larger than the 2000
crop. Last year's war-interrupted harvest amounted to a
mere 185 tonnes.
"The high level of opium
cultivation in Afghanistan this year is not a
manifestation of a failure of the Afghan authorities or
of the international efforts to assist them in drug
control. The planting [of the 2002 crop] took place
during the total collapse of law and order in the autumn
of 2001, long before the new government of Dr Hamid
Karzai was in place," Costa said.
He called for
greater international assistance to Afghan authorities
in carrying out their strong commitment to prevent opium
cultivation. Immediately after assuming office,
President Karzai issued a decree dated January 17
banning not only the cultivation but also the
processing, trafficking and abuse of opiates. Last
month, Karzai's government reiterated that position,
reasserting the ban on opium poppy planting in the
autumn.
"What is needed in the period ahead is
much stronger international support in establishing and
developing law enforcement institutions, and providing
Afghan farmers with alternative, licit means of
livelihood," Costa said.
The ODC reopened its
country office in Kabul in February 2002 and has
appointed Mohammad-Reza Amirkhizi as the country
representative. The office has been engaged in a wide
range of projects, which include strengthening the
Afghan drug control commission, assisting in law
enforcement and criminal justice and cooperating with
cross-border counter-narcotics operations in neighboring
states.
The office is also working on a pilot
social compact with farmers in Kandahar and Badakhshan
provinces, providing them with small amounts of
financial assistance with the understanding that they
would grow commercial crops other than opium poppy. It
promised poppy farmers US$350 per acre for not growing
poppies, but there have been protests, some of them
violent, in several southern towns over compensation
payments.
Another area of activity covers
drug-demand reduction. Following a quarter century of
military strife, a large segment of the Afghan
population has become addicted to opium and heroin. The
ODC is analyzing the extent of drug abuse within the
country and developing drug abuse prevention, treatment
and rehabilitation services.
(Asia Times
Online/United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
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