Opium cultivation is up by a third in Afghanistan as the country faces a severe economic crisis, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said on Tuesday.
The new figures appear to confirm fears the Taliban will fail to bring production to heel, and since August last year trafficking of the drug abroad has continued without interruption.
The group, which seized Afghanistan in August 2021, outlawed all cultivation of the opium poppy and all narcotics in April, but exempted this year's crop.
Production is predominantly in the south, where in some areas a fifth of arable land is used to grow the opium poppy. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime found cultivation is increasing in the north of the country too.
UN investigators used satellite imagery to survey Afghanistan’s crop fields after the Taliban took control of the country.
Farmers are facing tough choices in choosing which crop to plant for next year as the country's economy continues to fail. November is traditionally planting time for the season ahead, and few other crops such as wheat and vegetables can provide the income opium can.
The April ban sent prices of opium soaring this year. Afghan farmers tripled their income from $425 million in 2021 to $1.4 billion in 2022, the report found.
Ghada Waly, the UNODC's executive director, said the international community needs to do more to help the Afghan people and tackle drug trafficking around the world.
“Afghan farmers are trapped in the illicit opiate economy, while seizure events around Afghanistan suggest that opiate trafficking continues unabated,” she said.
Poppies are an attractive crop for farmers as they are pest and drought resistant, and can be stored for long periods.
Used to make street drug heroin and a range of medical prescription opioids, opium is created by scraping poppy seed pods for a milky fluid, which is then dried.
Afghanistan supplies 80 per cent of global opiate demand.
An explosion in opium production
Opium production dropped dramatically in 2001 after the last Taliban government banned it in July 2000. The UN celebrated the “near total success of the ban” in Taliban controlled areas at the time.
But the halt in growing the crop was short-lived, and since the US-led invasion in late 2001, the amount of land used for cultivation has crept up, reaching 233,000 hectares today.
The Taliban used to make a significant income from poppy cultivation. The report said the practice has “long represented a lucrative potential source of financing in Afghanistan, including in the past for non-state actors such as the Taliban.”
The April ban, however, may not be all good news. The dire economic situation in the country may mean a well-implemented ban like that of 2001 pushes farmers and others dependent on the trade to other illicit activities, or forces the cultivation abroad to other nations, the UNODC warned.
About 20 million Afghans are believed to be facing acute food insecurity as they brace for a second winter under Taliban rule.
Restrictions on the freedoms of women and girls, and the discovery that Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri was living in a Kabul safe house before he was killed by US forces, have deepened western concerns about Taliban rule.
G7 countries said in May that they expected a “swift and full implementation” of the ban on opium production.
The official ban “should lead to concrete efforts addressing illegal drugs trafficking and financing of terrorism,” the group’s foreign ministers said.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company%20profile
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The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
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Gully Boy
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Producer: Excel Entertainment & Tiger Baby
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi
Rating: 4/5 stars
RACECARD
%3Cp%3E%0D%3Cstrong%3E6pm%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Land%20Forces%20-%20Maiden%20(TB)%20Dh82%2C500%20(Dirt)%201%2C200m%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E6.35pm%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%20Naval%20Forces%20-%20Maiden%20(TB)%20Dh82%2C500%20(D)%201%2C400m%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E7.10pm%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sharjah%20Air%20Force%20-%20Maiden%20(TB)%20Dh82%2C500%20(D)%201%2C200m%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E7.45pm%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAjman%20Presidential%20Guard%20-%20Handicap%20(TB)%20Dh95%2C000%20(D)%201%2C200m%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E8.20pm%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%20Creek%20Mile%20%E2%80%93%20Listed%20(TB)%20Dh132%2C500%20(D)%201%2C600m%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E8.55pm%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUmm%20Al%20Quwain%20and%20Ras%20Al%20Khaimah%20Joint%20Aviation%20-%20Rated%20Conditions%20(TB)%20Dh95%2C000%20(D)%201%2C600m%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E9.30pm%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fujairah%20National%20Service%20and%20Reserve%20-%20Handicap%20(TB)%20Dh82%2C500%20(D)%201%2C400m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
WHY%20AAYAN%20IS%20'PERFECT%20EXAMPLE'
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
Abu Dhabi GP weekend schedule
Friday
First practice, 1pm
Second practice, 5pm
Saturday
Final practice, 2pm
Qualifying, 5pm
Sunday
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps), 5.10pm
AIR
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
The years Ramadan fell in May
FIGHT%20CARD
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