The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) issued a statement claiming it has brought down the drug cultivation and production in the country to zero.
The statement comes in response to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report 2023, which claimed that the country is the world’s largest supplier of opium, accounting for 80 per cent of the global market.
Taliban claims it has brought the cultivation and production of drugs in Afghanistan to "zero" after latest UNODC report. https://t.co/jXNEErK5eg
— Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) June 27, 2023
Taliban Refutes UNODC Report
Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said that the IEA is seriously fighting against the cultivation, production and trafficking of drugs.
The MoFA confirmed parts of the report, highlighting the ban’s effectiveness on the cultivation, production and trafficking of drugs in the country and said it had impacted global markets. “Opium cultivation in the country has been reduced to zero,” the ministry claimed.
Balkhi tweeted that the failure of several regimes to end or reduce the problem of drugs in the country over the past few decades shows the commitment of the Taliban government.
“We consider the assertion of (an) increase in methamphetamine production in & smuggling from Afghanistan to world markets as false & far from the truth,” it stated.
The MoFA further said that it considers the fight against narcotics a common challenge for all countries. “[IEA] calls on the international community to assist Afghanistan both financially & technically in the fight against drugs.” Saying that coordination among nations is essential on the issue, the ministry remarked that “it stands ready to collaborate & hold constructive dialogue with international organizations in this regard.”
IEA spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid also refuted the report and said the 80 per cent claim is incorrect, and that the last survey on the ground took place two years ago.
.@UNODC regional office for Central Asia @UNODC_ROCA has created a new information centre in #Uzbekistan to aid policymakers in countries like #Afganistan take informed decisions, understand extent of drugs scourge. Our exclusive report from the region:https://t.co/022cGzrilv
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) June 26, 2023
The Report
The UNODC report said that drug abuse is rampant in Afghanistan. Although it mentioned that the production and cultivation of opium decreased in the country following a ban by the Taliban, the report said it is too early to know whether the results would hold.
Meanwhile, the report also stated that the ban has resulted in a shift from opium cultivation to the production of methamphetamines in the country.
In an earlier report, UNODC stated that 3.5 million people in Afghanistan use drugs, about 10 per cent of the total population.
Opium is a highly profitable plant-based substance that produces heroin and is extremely popular in the crisis-struck country. While tomato farmers earn around 30 cents from 7 kg of tomatoes, 1kg of opium costs $360 currently.
Taliban banned opium production and smuggling in the country about two years ago, thus officially banning the industry that employs the maximum number of people in the country.
The report has suggested that while the benefits of a possible significant reduction in illicit opium cultivation in Afghanistan in 2023 would be global, it would be at the expense of many farmers in the country who do not have alternative means of income generation.