Opium war

A recent UN finding says that an opium market worth $65bn (£39bn) funds global terrorism, caters to 15 million addicts, and kills 100,000 people every year.Figures that are both shocking and distressing bring to the fore some questions of immense importance: Where does this large amount of opium grow? How does the entire process work so freely? Who are the people behind it? And finally, if there exists an ulterior motive behind funding the excessive opium farming?



Afghanistan enjoys an absolute monopoly on illegal opium production in the world. The country, still on the crutches of rebuilding after the U.S war, produces close to 92% of the world's opium, with almost 3,500 tonnes leaving the country each year. Interestingly, the annual world demand for illicit opium has never exceeded 5,000 tons. But in the past few years, which includes2009, Afghanistan’s supply capacity has well exceeded this amount.

The blatant abuse of Afghan opium is responsible for the maximum number of drug related deaths in the world. This drug reaches the rest of the world via central Asian countries and via Pakistan, leaving behind massive traces of addiction in these countries.


Ironically, the number of Russians that die each year due to Afghan drugs is far more than the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. In member countries of NATO, more than 10,000 people die every year due to abuse of Afghan heroin. This makes it five times more than the total number of NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001.



However, the problem of opium farming in Afghanistan is not restricted to addiction alone. Afghan drugs have catastrophic consequences. They fund criminals, insurgents, and terrorists in Afghanistan and abroad. Taliban is reported to have huge interests in the steady growth of opium farming in Afghanistan. According to the UNODC report, Afghan opium sufficient to meet the world demand for the next two years has gone missing. UN and various other agencies fear the hand of the Taliban behind the missing opium.

In 2009, opium cultivation in Afghanistan decreased by 22%, from 157,000 hectares (ha) in 2008 to 123,000 ha today.According to an interview given to CNN by Walter Kemp from the UNODC, the world needs around 4,000 tons of opium a year for licit and illicit purposes. This year in spite of the decrease in opium production around 6,900 tons was produced; 7,700 tons of opium was produced last year and more than 8,500 the year before that.



Also, according to Kemp, the world demand for opium is steady, the supply is more but the prices are not crashing, which clearly indicates that a large amount of opium is being withheld from world markets. Moreover, since the world needs only 4000 tons of opium every year, it gives rise to an important question: where is rest of the opium going? According to the United Nations Organisation, there is strong evidence to indicate that Taliban may be stockpiling the missing Afghan opium to finance their illegal activities and needs. The Taliban is reported to have stocked approximately 12,000 tons of opium somewhere in and around Afghanistan. The terrorist organisation also earns revenues by taxing opium production in Afghanistan. “The Taliban's direct involvement in the opium trade allows them to fund a war machine that is becoming technologically more complex and increasingly widespread,” said Antonia Maria Costa, head of UNODC, in an interview to the BBC.

Opium farming in Afghanistan is not only a growing concern sitting heavy on the brow of the Afghan government, but, is giving sleepless nights to the entire world. It is eating into the already devastated social structure of Afghanistan. Entire villages in the country are reportedly getting addicted to this dangerous drug. Decades of war, destruction and poverty have instilled a sense of misery in many people there, making opium an easy anodyne to deal with an often-grim reality.



The decrease in opium cultivation in the present year maybe welcome news, but, this alone will not solve all the problems in Afghanistan. Conversely, the problems in Afghanistan can never be solved without controlling the drug production in the country.