August 27, 2007

Afghan Opium Production Booming

Opium production in Afghanistan has reached "frightening" new levels, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime announced today. The opium business there is up 17% from last year, and now comprises 93% of the drug's worldwide output.

"No other country in the world has ever had such a large amount of farmland used for illegal activity, besides China 100 years ago," UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa told AP.

The report did note one positive development: The drug trade in Afghanistan's northern provinces has significantly declined. The opium boom has taken place almost entirely in the troubled Helmand province in the south, where the presence of Taliban and other insurgent fighters is strongest.

Costa blamed not only insurgents in Helmand for the crisis but also the Hamid Karzai government's "benign tolerance of corruption."

See the full UNODC report here [PDF]. Reuters has a fact sheet on the Afghan poppy trade, and the New York Times reports on firefights in Helmand province over the weekend.

Posted at 2:40 PM
Posted to: Afghanistan, Asia, Crime, Drugs, Terrorism
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