Farmers in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province collect raw opium during a harvest in April.
Gandhara Briefing
I write about the Taliban turning a blind eye to poppy cultivation despite announcing a blanket ban on illicit narcotics.
Some farmers in southern Afghanistan, where most of the world’s illicit opium is produced, say they are planting their crops openly.
The Taliban has been unable to provide alternative livelihoods for the tens of thousands of farmers who are dependent on the drug trade for survival.
“I support the ban on poppy cultivation if we get some aid to enable us to buy food and medicines for our families,” Abdul Qayyum, a farmer in Kandahar’s Maiwand district, told us.
Naqibullah, a farmer in Uruzgan, said that a wheat crop could not even pay for the labor and investment in fertilizers it requires to grow. “If I don’t plant poppies, I will get nothing,” he said.
“An effective ban on drugs production in the midst of a failing economy is a recipe for disaster,” said David Mansfield, a researcher who tracks drugs and human smuggling in Afghanistan.