Afghanistan's interim government, led by the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia), has announced the establishment of a committee to investigate violent clashes in the northeastern province of Badakhshan. These clashes arose from protests against the destruction of opium poppy fields.
According to reports from the Dawn newspaper, the committee's formation comes in response to complaints from local farmers regarding house searches and the alleged use of excessive force by police during the seizure of opium poppy crops. The ban on opium poppy cultivation was imposed by Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada in 2022. Last week's clashes between protesters and police in Badakhshan resulted in at least two fatalities.
Under Taliban decree, the cultivation of opium poppies, which are processed into opium—the raw material for heroin production—is strictly prohibited in Afghanistan. Violators of this ban face severe prison sentences. However, for many Afghan farmers, poppy cultivation remains their primary source of income.
UN statistics indicate that in 2021, before the Taliban's takeover, Afghanistan produced over 6,000 tons of opium, sufficient to yield 320 tons of pure heroin. Opium-related revenues in Afghanistan totalled between $1.8 to $2.7 billion that year, representing over 7% of the country's GDP.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, following the Taliban's ban, opium poppy cultivation and processing in Afghanistan decreased drastically by 95% in 2023. The area under cultivation plummeted from 233,000 hectares to 10,800 hectares, while opium production dropped from 6,200 tons to 333 tons. Heroin production estimates for Afghanistan in 2023 range from 24 to 38 tons, significantly lower than the 350 to 580 tons reported in the previous year.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Ingo Doerrie/Unsplash
Based on materials from TASS