By Matthew Champion.
The United Nations has hailed what it sees as the beginning of the end of the Afghan opium market.
Opium cultivation, production and prices all fell in the war-torn country in the last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said.
Ninety per cent of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan, but less than two per cent of it is seized there.
Nato blames poppy farms in the country for funding criminals, insurgents and terrorists, while corrupt officials also indirectly hurts faith in the government.
In its annual report published this morning, UNODC said the 'bottom is starting to fall out of the Afghan opium market'.
Eighteen out of 20 provinces are now poppy free, with cultivation falling 22 per cent to 123,000 hectares after peaking at 193,000ha in 2007.
The most dramatic falls were seen in embattled Helmand province, the heart of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, where cultivation was down by a third from 103,590ha in 2008 to 69,833ha.
UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa said: 'At a time of pessimism about the situation in Afghanistan, these results are a welcome piece of good news and demonstrate that progress is possible.'
He said that a 'sticks and carrots approach' was behind the positive news, including strong leadership by the governor of Helmand, aggressive counter-narcotics strategies and better deals for legal crop farmers.
The UN explained that action by Afghan and Nato troops was compounding pressure by market forces, which have seen prices fall amid over-supply and lower market penetration.
But UNODC warned that 10,000 tonnes of illicit opium - enough to satisfy two years worth of global heroin addiction - remained unaccounted for.
Mr Costa added: 'Controlling drugs in Afghanistan will not solve all of the country's problems, but the country's problems can not be solved without controlling drugs.'
The United Nations has hailed what it sees as the beginning of the end of the Afghan opium market.
Opium cultivation, production and prices all fell in the war-torn country in the last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said.
Ninety per cent of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan, but less than two per cent of it is seized there.
Nato blames poppy farms in the country for funding criminals, insurgents and terrorists, while corrupt officials also indirectly hurts faith in the government.
In its annual report published this morning, UNODC said the 'bottom is starting to fall out of the Afghan opium market'.
Eighteen out of 20 provinces are now poppy free, with cultivation falling 22 per cent to 123,000 hectares after peaking at 193,000ha in 2007.
The most dramatic falls were seen in embattled Helmand province, the heart of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, where cultivation was down by a third from 103,590ha in 2008 to 69,833ha.
UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa said: 'At a time of pessimism about the situation in Afghanistan, these results are a welcome piece of good news and demonstrate that progress is possible.'
He said that a 'sticks and carrots approach' was behind the positive news, including strong leadership by the governor of Helmand, aggressive counter-narcotics strategies and better deals for legal crop farmers.
The UN explained that action by Afghan and Nato troops was compounding pressure by market forces, which have seen prices fall amid over-supply and lower market penetration.
But UNODC warned that 10,000 tonnes of illicit opium - enough to satisfy two years worth of global heroin addiction - remained unaccounted for.
Mr Costa added: 'Controlling drugs in Afghanistan will not solve all of the country's problems, but the country's problems can not be solved without controlling drugs.'
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