AdvertisementĪbove all, the Taliban’s former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, before taking the leadership, was responsible for the drug market at Gerdi Jangal, located in Balochistan, which touches Helmand province. In exchange for their taxes, the Taliban protect the land by fighting the Afghan government and even fence off certain cultivation areas by planting mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Moreover, the Taliban not only encourages farmers to grow the crop, but makes it much easier for the farmers to produce opium and much more difficult and even deadly for them to produce other crops. If farmers decide to produce something other than opium, the Taliban’s response is to ask them to pay the equivalent amount that they would have paid had they grown opium. The Taliban demand taxes on their terms, no matter what the farmers grow. Most of the Taliban in Helmand and Kandahar are engaged in the drug trade, fighting for profit rather than religion and ideology. Today, around 40 percent of Taliban funding comes from opium, which enables them to fight the Afghan government and the international community.
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In 2005, the Taliban began to regroup and encouraged opium production in order to finance their insurgency.Įnjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access.
Subsequently, with the overthrow of the Taliban regime by international forces led by United States, the farmers and drug dealers gradually ramped up opium production. In 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Omar announced the ban of opium cultivation and it dramatically decreased to 7,600 hectares from 82,000 in 2000. Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific. In 1997, only Pakistan and Saudi Arabia recognized the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and provided assistance to the movement while most of the world balked due to their brutal actions against democracy, human rights, women, and their hosting of Al Qaeda. The nexus between the Taliban and opium cultivation stems from the establishment of its regime. This income from drugs goes to fund the Taliban’s war engine, which has continued for more well over a decade now and remains alarming.
The Taliban is earning up to $400 million annually from the illicit drugs, particularly from the restive Southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, and Nimruz. Moreover, about $3 billion of the total opium produced remains in Afghanistan. But 2016 has turned out to be a year of rising drug output in Afghanistan, which quickly dashed these hopes. In addition to this, more than 2.9 million Afghans are involved in opium production one way or another, which is more than 12 percent of the total population.Īfter the election of 2014 and the formation of a National Unity Government (NUG), there were hopes that the NUG would fight narcotics, corruption and strengthen the rule of law. In 2016, opium production increased by 43 percent mainly due to an increase in insurgency. The opium trade results in the generation of approximately $68 billion in annual revenue. Afghanistan is the world’s top producer of opium, producing 90 percent of global supply.
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