Mohammad Ahmadi, a young opium farmer in the southern Afghan province of Kandaha...
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Mohammad Ahmadi, a young opium farmer in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar has the kind of confidence that underlines how meagre the results have been of years of effort and billions of dollars spent fighting narcotics.
As pressure grows for a political settlement to end 18 years of war in Afghanistan, the drug trade remains a major threat, leaving the country at the risk of becoming a “narco-state”, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction , a U.S. Congressional watchdog, said in recent report. “I want to continue my studies but economic issues force me to do this,” Ahmadi said, blaming the government for not creating the conditions for other jobs.
“We don’t have the ability to annihilate poppy cultivation in all of the country,” said Gul Mohammad Shukran, head of counter-narcotics in Kandahar. By contrast, efforts to wipe out the crop have been meagre and just 406 hectares were cleared last year, according to the UNODC, hampered in part by expanding Taliban control over larger parts of the country.About half of Afghanistan’s opium is produced in areas of high insurgent activity, according to SIGAR.
For their part, the Taliban, who famously banned opium growing in 2000, when they held power across most of the country, have suggested they will once again eliminate the poppies if peace talks succeed.
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