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In Afghanistan today, poppy cultivation exists largely in response to two decades of war, limited markets and credit opportunities, and a lack of alternate sources of income for farmers. Over the past decade Afghanistan has reportedly become the world’s leading producer of opium, accounting for an estimated three quarters of the world’s illicit opium production. In 1998, for example, it was estimated that approximately 63,000 hectares of land cultivated in opium poppy produced an estimated 2,102 metric tons of dry opium[2].

UNDCP estimates that in 1999, Afghanistan alone produced almost 80% of all opium world-wide. The area under opium poppy cultivation in 1999 is estimated to have been 90,583 hectares[3]. The estimated production of dry opium rose substantially to approximately 4,600 tons in 1999[4]. The top two provinces in terms of poppy area are Helmand and Nangarhar. Helmand accounts for 42,853 hectares or 52% of the national total. Nangarhar accounts for 19,747 hectares or 24% of the national total.

UNDCP’s Annual Opium Poppy Survey for the year 2000, estimates that there were 82,172 hectares of poppy under cultivation in the 2000 season. This represents a reduction in total poppy area of just under 10% compared with the previous year. The estimated national production in the year 2000 is 3,275.9 metric tons[5]. The protracted drought throughout Afghanistan has had impact on the yield of the 2000 harvest.

The latest post harvest reports from Afghanistan for the year 2000 indicate that the continuation of drought conditions may lead farmers to decide to cultivate wheat in the next season. However, this is far from certain. Some farmers may be unable to pay back their pre-season loans due to the poor harvest this year. There is a likelihood that they may gamble on the drought breaking and sow the higher income generating poppy. There is an opportunity now for the Afghan authorities and the international community to influence the decision that farmers will make in October/November about what to grow (poppy or wheat) for the next season.

Cannabis continues to be illicitly cultivated and to grow wild in extensive areas of Afghanistan, where no cannabis eradication efforts have been reported. Seizures of cannabis resin originating in Afghanistan are increasing in Europe.

Cannabis is usually transported from Afghanistan through Baluchistan to the Makran coast of Pakistan, and from there by ship to the Gulf States and Europe. Cannabis is also increasingly transported through the Central Asian Republics by rail.

Heroin manufacture has moved to Afghanistan from Pakistan, where it has virtually disappeared. Afghanistan plays a key role in the heroin trade, the proceeds of which appear to be laundered outside the country, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, or through the hawala alternative remittance system[6].

A recent forensic study in the United Kingdom showed that over 86% of all seized heroin had its origin in Afghan opium. It is probably fair to assume that similar proportions exist for other West European countries.[7]

The average annual illicit demand for heroin in a European country the size of the United Kingdom or Italy is about 8 tons. According to UNDCP estimates, more than 230 metric tons of heroin of Afghan origin may become available this year for smuggling to the illicit drug markets in the West. This amount is roughly 30 times greater than the average annual illicit consumption in the United Kingdom, or 2 times greater than the total amount that could be absorbed by all illicit markets in the West during one year.[8]

(II) Illicit Drug Trafficking

Traditionally, opium and morphine base from Afghanistan are trafficked through Pakistan and Iran to reach heroin laboratories in Eastern Turkey, for further distribution to West European markets. This route has come under considerable pressure because of the success of Iran in intercepting this trade. Also, the drug control efforts in Pakistan have been recently more successful, with Iran and Pakistan having much improved their cross-border cooperation in fighting illicit drug trafficking.Illicit drug trafficking through the Persian Gulf States seems to be on the increase. These shipments are intended for markets in the Arabian peninsula, the Middle East, the United Kingdom and even the United States.

There is now substantial evidence that countries in Central Asia are being used as transit points to transport from east to west illicit consignments of opiates and cannabis originating in Afghanistan. But precursor chemicals are also being transported in the opposite direction in order to supply the illicit laboratories in Afghanistan with the necessary chemicals to manufacture heroin, thus creating an adverse flow of illicit drug trafficking.

(III) Drug Abuse

There has been a long history of drug use in Afghanistan, particularly the use of opium and cannabis, first introduced by Alexander the Great over 2,000 years ago. Among some minority groups, such as Tajik Ismailis and Turkmens, opium has traditionally been used for a range of social reasons, and as a medicine for “over fifty diseases”. It is also notable that in Badakhshan province, located in the extreme northeast of Afghanistan, other opium products apart from resin are still commonly used, for example poppy seed oil for cooking and the dried stalks of opium poppy plants as fuel for cooking fires or as animal fodder.[9]

However, the abuse of opiates appears to have increased. Heroin abuse, in particular, is sharply increasing in the cities as Afghan refugees are returning from Pakistan.[10] In1999, UNDCP carried out an in-depth assessment of a group of 50 Afghan women opium users in one of the refugee camps. While the majority of the women using opium were in their thirties, more than 20% were over the age of 50. The length of time for using opium ranged from eight months to 48 years, with an average use of six years. A quarter of the average monthly family income of US$ 35 was spent on opium alone. The majority of women were also poly-drug users who used other drugs apart from opium, most notably hashish and/or pharmaceuticals, particularly painkillers and tranquillisers.

(IV) Fight Against Illicit Drug Trafficking

The UNDCP Annual Opium Poppy Survey shows that, in Taliban controlled areas, there is widespread awareness of the ruling authorities’ decree requiring all poppy farmers to reduce their cultivation area by one third. However, compliance with this decree has occurred only in parts of the country, while other parts have recorded increases. In 1999, the Taliban destroyed a handful of drug laboratories and eradicated 20 to 100 hectares of poppy fields, but otherwise took no significant action to discourage poppy cultivation, seize precursor chemicals or arrest and prosecute narcotic traffickers. In spite of its own 1997 ban on the cultivation of opium poppy, the Taliban has continued to tax the opium poppy crop at about 10 percent, allow it to be sold in open bazaars, traded and transported.

The commitment of the Taliban in Afghanistan to ban opium poppy cultivation and heroin manufacture remains questionable, as it continued to collect taxes on the opium poppy crop that was harvested and the heroin that was manufactured in 1999. According to the latest survey, 97 percent of the area under opium poppy cultivation was on territory controlled by the Taliban.[11]

Afghanistan is party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1961 Single Convention. None of the political factions governing this country have taken meaningful steps to meet Afghanistan’s obligations under these Conventions.

Under the Crop Cultivation Survey Programme of UNDCP, Ground Surveys are planned for all opium growing areas, such as Afghanistan. A Ground Survey refers to the collecting of data on site, at the village level, through interviewing (village leaders, heads of households and households), and field measurements (quantitative and qualitative information). A number of survey teams are employed, provided training, guidelines and questionnaires. These questionnaires also include other important topics, such as the number of drug addicts at the village level, which will be used for implementing other initiatives.

In Afghanistan, the ground surveys, conducted by UNDCP since 1994, will now benefit from the support of satellite imagery to produce more detailed data and to detect illicit crops displacement. The survey accuracy will be improved with the use of satellite images, initially to be introduced in the four target districts that receive UNDCP assistance under its alternative development programme. During 2001, the satellite technology will be extended to cover the entire country.

In parallel to the activities inside Afghanistan, and in order to contain as far as possible, the current flow of drugs from Afghanistan, UNDCP is now focussing on the strengthening of drug control capacities on the borders of all countries neighbouring Afghanistan, thus creating a so-called “Security Belt” around Afghanistan. This will be achieved through improving the operational drug control capacities of all Afghanistan’s neighbours. The projects and programmes under the “Security Belt” strategy have been launched in almost all countries around Afghanistan.[12]

[1] ECO Guide Book.

[2] UNDCP (1998) Annual Opium Poppy Survey, UNDCP Programme, Islamabad.

[3] UNDCP Global Illicit Monitoring Programme, January 2000.

[4] UNDCP (1999) Annual Opium Poppy Survey, UNDCP Programme, Islamabad.

[5] UNDCP Annual Poppy Survey 2000.

[6] International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1999.

[7] UNDCP Chronicle Afghanistan and Pakistan, June 2000.

[8] Creation of a Security Belt Around Afghanistan, UNDCP June 2000.

[9] UNIDATA (1992) Afghanistan: Badakshan Province.

[10] International Narcotics Control Board, 1999.

[11] International Narcotics Control Board, 1999

[12] Creation of a Security Belt Around Afghanistan,

UNDCP June 2000

Topography:

(II) Illicit Drug Trafficking

(III) Drug Abuse

(IV) Fight Against Illicit Drug Trafficking