The Taliban-controlled Afghanistan made the trade of heroin, hashish and alcohol an outlaw thereafter announcing a blanket ban on the cultivation of drugs that included the cash crop opium poppy.
The restriction comes amid the opium harvesting season in southern Afghanistan. A Taliban spokesman warned farmers of dire consequences if the farmers harvested poppy it could lead to imprisonment and their crops getting destroyed/burned.
The Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, informing all Afghans that the cultivation of poppy has been strictly prohibited across the country.
Opium and Afghanistan
According to the United Nations, the cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan increased by 59 per cent in 2006. In comparison to 2005, opium production is projected to have increased by 49%.In 2017 the United Nations estimated that Afghanistan’s opium production was worth $1.4 billion.
The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime estimates that Afghanistan earns at least $1.8 billion per year from the production of opium products, accounting for more than 80% of the world’s supply of opium products.
Afghanistan’s Economy and Opium
With millions of Afghan farmers reliant on opium harvesting for survival, the prohibition on the poppy a vital source of employment and revenue in Afghanistan, only exacerbates the country’s already hunger prone economy.
The country’s poor economic position had previously motivated farmers of the country’s south-eastern provinces to produce an illegal crop with the might of having bigger yield returns and faster production than legal crops like wheat.
Hunger projection in Afghanistan
Humanitarian organisations had warned that Afghanistan could face a hunger crisis, as people do not have enough money to buy food. According to the United Nations, the current situation in Afghanistan is unprecedented, with more than 24.4 million people in need of humanitarian help to survive.
According to the United Nations, food security levels have plummeted at a rate not witnessed anywhere in such a short time, with half of the population enduring acute hunger, including 9 million people in emergency food insecurity making it the world’s highest figure.
According to UN General-Secretary Antonio Guterres, the UN’s $4.4 billion financial plea for Afghanistan is the world’s largest single-country appeal. He assured that the UN partner’s joint efforts will deliver food, water, health care, protection, shelter, education, and other life-saving relief to Afghanistan’s 22 million people.
As of 2022, humanitarian partners had provided life-saving aid to 12.7 million Afghans, with a focus on women, girls, and minority groups, according to Guterres.
In late 1994 and early 1995, the Taliban placed a similar ban on the opium trade. However, after the Taliban were deposed in 2001, the prohibition was lifted. However, this current ban amidst the free-falling Aghan Economy after the August 2021 Taliban return only makes the economy worse.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi asked international assistance providers for their cooperation to help find alternative businesses for farmers as opium harvesting has been banned.
The ban may have been introduced to curb the illicit production of opium to suffice international demand but without providing an alternative line of monetary assistance to the farmers this may backfire on the already hunger prone economy
Edited by Subbuthai Padma
 Published by Iram Rizvi
