Afghanistan still world's opium capital under Western occupation

By Haider Rizvi
Despite the heavy military presence of the United States and other Western powers, Afghanistan remains the world's largest illicit producer of opium, according to a new study released by experts who monitor the worldwide trade in narcotics on behalf of the United Nations.

Afghan officials let drug traffickers operate with impunity and those who do target the opium trade risk their lives, the report said. Last year, 78 officials trying to eradicate opium crops were killed, six times the toll in 2007.

"Afghanistan is the source of over 90 percent of the illicit opium in the world," Mylven Levitsky, a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), told a news conference after releasing the board's latest study on the global trade in illicit drugs.
Levitsky, who thinks that lack of security is the "main obstacle" to halting opium production in Afghanistan, urged the U.S.-backed authorities in Kabul to take "immediate measures" to address the drug problem, which he and his colleagues have described as "alarming".
According to the INCB 2008 report, Afghanistan is currently producing over 7,000 tonnes of opium. Mixed with certain chemicals, opium is used to manufacture heroin, a highly addictive drug that remains popular with millions of users around the world.
The report shows that in addition to the illicit cultivation, manufacture and export of heroin, Afghanistan is also facing the problem of drug abuse at the domestic level. Researchers say drug abuse is on the rise in Afghanistan, with at least one million people currently addicted to heroin.
The INCB study points out that the large-scale smuggling of Afghan opiates is also causing a wide range of social ills, including organised crime and corruption, which according to some unconfirmed reports, are also linked to the authorities in Kabul and their allies among warlords.
Opium is not the only illicit crop in Afghanistan. According to the report's authors, in 2008, cannabis cultivation was also on the rise because that crop is now considered to be highly lucrative in the international narcotic drug market.
Afghanistan has been a leading source of heroin exports to the Western world for nearly three decades. In the early 1980s when the United States and the former Soviet Union turned the country into a battleground for their proxy war, the heroin business was linked to the anti-Soviet Islamist forces backed by the U.S. intelligence agencies.
According to the report, illicit poppy cultivation is also taking place in neighbouring Pakistan, which appears to be increasing. "While the government of Pakistan remains determined to eradicate such illicit cultivation, most of it takes place in areas near the Afghan border where it has difficulties in enforcing national laws," Levitsky said.
The Afghan government needs to create alternative income sources for poppy growers, but it must also take measures to control the supply of chemicals that are used to convert opium into heroin, officials said.
In a recent interview with IPS, an INCB said the board was trying to identify the pharmaceutical companies responsible for exporting those chemicals, but the 2008 report does not give any indication of success in that regard.
The report's authors urged the United States to take effective measures to stop the use of illicit drugs, noting that violence among drug cartels, traffickers, and law enforcement officials was becoming a "major problem" in many parts of the country.
With regard to Africa, the study shows that the western part of the continent has now become a major hub for South American smugglers to ship their products to Europe.
The study finds that cannabis has become the most popular drug in Africa, with at least 42 million users. Africa produces more than 25 percent of all cannabis worldwide.
In their conclusion, the report's authors urged governments to adopt "coherent" and "constructive" plans to address the issue of illicit trade in narcotic drugs rather than seeking "individual solutions".

Source: RAWA News

Afghanistan cultivates drugs on record vast area under US invasion

By Dilshad Azeem
Illicit drugs production, an issue of global concern in Afghanistan, has set a new record of peak escalation in the war on terror period as compared to previous Taliban-led rule over the land-locked country.

The drug production, instead of its eradication, has registered a hike of 40 times more than the lowest in 2001 in all the previous 14 years.

“Almost a twenty times additional land has been brought under drugs cultivation in seven years of US-led forces’ control and Karazi administration in Afghanistan,” said official sources while handing over the latest statistics on the neighbouring country.
Following 9/11 attacks and Taliban’s refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden to the US, the allied forces ousted the regime in end-2001, the year during which poppy opium cultivation was at the lowest ebb in Afghanistan’s history from 1994 onwards and till today.
The surge in production and areas brought under cultivation of prohibited drugs may be unbelievable for civilized societies to be suffering ultimately with continuous enhancement of the booming worldwide drugs trade.
The latest figures, obtained by The News, reveals that the drug production, instead of its eradication, has registered a hike of 40 times more than the lowest in 2001 in all the previous 14 years during which the Taliban emerged, fell and the sole superpower installed its favourites.
Similarly 20 times more area has been brought under cultivation of opium poppy in the last seven years as it was just 7,606 hectares in the year 2001 against presently 1,57,000 hectares, a bad example that would ultimately hit the masses damaging their fundamentals.
Telling a true story of permanent increase in opium poppy cultivation since 2001, the Foreign Office sources said the production reduced to only 185 tons in the year 2001 but now it stands at 7,700 tons a year, with an unanswered question as to whether Afghans can use all or drugs mafia supplies the major chunk to the rest of the world.
The sudden increase in the prohibited drugs, an international worry, is alarming as these directly target people whether living in the region or other parts of the world. “The US would have results far better had it used a few billions for drugs control in the long-term benefits of the people,” the official referring to figures, worked out by the UN and other global organizations, said.
Statistics also reveal that opium poppy was being cultivated on 71,470 hectares in 1994 that gradually, with negligible ups and downs, touched the lowest figure of 7,606 hectares in 2001.
According to these statistics, the opium poppy cultivation in hectares was 74,000, 80,000, 1,31,000, 1,04,000, 1,65,000 and 1,93,000 respectively in the years, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 as the international coalition took over Afghanistan in end-2001.
Likewise, the production of drugs was recorded as 3,400, 3,600, 4,200, 3,800, 6,100 and 8,200 tons in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively, reflecting a consistency in upward trend.
According to international media reports, the US spent almost US$60 billion besides donors’ US$3 billion till 2008 in the name of war on terror, reconstruction and its various aspects in Afghanistan since 2001. But how would the superpower control prohibited drugs production in that country if all energies are spent on the use of force.
Source: RAWA News