Millions of dollars are spent every year to eliminate narcotics in Afghanistan but recent reports show that both the cultivation of opium and the production and smuggling of drugs have increased.This has created concern with some Members of Parliament (MPs) accusing American and NATO forces of propagating and cultivating poppy in Afghanistan. The illegal narcotics trade is financing the war in Afghanistan by anti-government groups. The international drug mafia is interested in keeping the war going.Opium production has risen despite the multi-billion dollar efforts of the west to eradicate the crop.Recently the UN reported that new areas have turned to poppy cultivation. A report in Killid (issue number 723 published on June 4, 2016) stated, “The government has not launched a campaign against narcotics; it has not eliminated even one bush of poppy.” Moreover, the cultivation of poppy has restarted this year in 20 provinces. For instance the province of Jowzjan was free of poppy, but cultivation has restarted in three districts this year.On Oct 23, the Afghan government as well as UNODC (UN Office for Drugs and Crimes) reported that the production of narcotics in Afghanistan has increased 43 percent in 2016. Narcotics production has reached approximately 4,800 tonnes so far this year compared to 3,300 tonnes last year and the total cultivated area has increased from 180,000 hectares to 201,000 hectares.The UN report states that since 1994, the cultivated area under poppy has risen above 200,000 hectares for the third time. In 2009, it touched 209,000 hectares and in 2014, 224,000 hectares. The bulk of the narcotics is manufactured in the southern (59 percent) and eastern areas (25 percent). Though there is a 7 percent decrease in poppy cultivation in Helmand province, still it is top of the list of producing provinces with more than 80,000 hectares under poppy. Provinces such as Kandahar, Uruzgan, Nangarhar, Farah, Badakhshan and Nimroz are others on the list of top producers.The joint UNODC and Ministry of Counter Narcotics report shows that the cultivation of narcotics has increased 10 percent and production 43 percent compared to last year. Up for scrutinyFollowing the publication of the report Parliament summoned three ministers – interior affairs, counter narcotics and public health – to discuss the government’s handling of counter narcotics. The US and Britain’s role in the increase in opium cultivation was pointed out by MPs. It was beyond the ability of the government to control trafficking in drugs, they said.MP Delawar Aimaq said, “The US and Britain are leading the war in Afghanistan due to considerable profits that they have from the narcotics. … I hope Parliament can act to cancel the security pact with the US and NATO so that our country can get rid of the current problems.”
Abdul Wadood Paiman, another MP, said the cultivation of opium should be declared legal so Afghan farmers stand to gain from it. “The US and Britain earn some 110 billion USD from cultivation, production and smuggling of narcotics every year. They don’t want to lose such a huge amount of money,” he said. Obaidullah, another MP, also linked the production and smuggling of narcotics to American and British forces.According to Ramazan Bashardost, MP, international aid that comes to Afghanistan every year is in fact money from narcotics; the US and Britain earn some70 billion USD every year and give this money back to the Afghan government.SIGAR or the special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction has announced in its latest report that the US spent some 8 billion USD for counter-narcotics in the past 14 years. The Afghan government says that it has received only 170 million USD.Official responseMinister for Interior Affairs Taj Mohammad Jahed told the MPs that the government has a strong will and will take on narcotics traffickers, both domestic and the international mafia. “Despite the fact that security forces are involved in an unpublicised war on international terror, the police have notched many victories in countering the narcotics business by arresting many drug smugglers with the help of other departments.”Baz Mohammad Ahmadi, deputy minister of counter narcotics in the Ministry of Interior Affairs, told lawmakers that the anti-drug police led 392 operations against small and big sellers of narcotics in Kabul over the past one year. As a result, some 180 sellers were arrested. According to him, the drug business employs some 3 million people, but just 2,500 are expected to police it.Meanwhile, Minister for Health Ferozudin Feroz likened drug addiction to a silent tsunami. Its threat is no less than terrorism. It is easy to buy drugs, but very difficult to successfully give up the habit. According to the minister, as many as 109 deaddiction centres have opened this year in 31 provinces but not in Uruzgan. In the pipeline are a 200-bed centre for women addicts in Kabul; also centres for women n Balkh, Herat and five other provinces including Helmand, Nimroz and Nangarhar. Salamat Azimi, minister for counter narcotics, spoke at a strategy meeting to counter narcotics. Under discussion were the construction of 20 clinics for treatment of addicts, the establishment of a 1500-bed hospital, vocational training programmes for reformed addicts. Meanwhile, two centres of 150-beds each in Nangarhar and a centre in Helmand are considered achievements of the ministry.
