Opium Production Booming in Free Afghanistan

March 1, 2006 — -- Freedom has been good to Afghanistan's opium farmers.

Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's opium, and the drug accounts for one-third of the country's gross domestic product, according to the U.S. State Department's annual report on international narcotics trafficking released today.

Though the amount of acreage under poppy cultivation dropped 48 percent in 2005, yields increased because the weather was good, so production dropped only 10 percent below the 2004 level. Even with the decrease, this year's total is almost double the country's peak production levels under the Taliban, and more than half of the total reduction occurred in just two provinces.

The United Nations estimates that opium poppy cultivation accounts for a third of Afghanistan's gross domestic product.

Dangerous security conditions and corruption are blamed for the mixed results in Afghanistan's effort to curb its growing reliance on opium as a cash crop.

The State Department's annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report presents a mixed assessment of efforts to prevent Afghan farmers from growing opium poppies. This year's report does not repeat last year's warning that Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming a "narcotics state." That warning was prompted by 2004's bumper crop of opium, when 206,700 hectares were dedicated to poppy cultivation. This year's 48 percent decrease in the amount of acreage devoted to poppy cultivation has led U.S. officials to conclude that that there is "cause for guarded optimism in 2005."

The good news of last year's cut in poppy planting has been tempered by recent reports that it is once again on the rise, which is of new concern to U.S. officials.

The report praises the commitment of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government to fight poppy production, which is seen as a threat to efforts to rebuild Afghanistan's economy and develop a strong democratic government based on the rule of law. Karzai has recently pledged to further reduce poppy cultivation in 2006 by an additional 20 percent.