UN: Opium harvest soars to record level in Afghanistan

RAW STORY
Published: Saturday September 2, 2006

"Afghanistan’s opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said Saturday in Kabul," reports Carlotta Gall in Sunday's edition of The New York Times.

"He described the figures as 'alarming' and 'very bad news' for the Afghan government and international donors who have poured millions of dollars into programs to reduce the poppy crop since 2001," the article continues.

Excerpts from Times article:

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He said the increase in cultivation was fueled by the resurgence of Taliban rebels in the south, the country’s prime opium growing region. As the insurgents have stepped up their attacks, they have also encouraged and profited from the drug trade, promising protection to growers if they worked to expand their opium operations.

“This year’s harvest will be around 6,100 metric tons of opium — a staggering 92 percent of total world supply. It exceeds global consumption by 30 percent,” Mr. Costa said at a news briefing.

He said the harvest increased by 49 percent from the year before, and it drastically outpaced the previous record of 4,600 metric tons, recorded in 1999 while the Taliban governed the country. The area of land cultivated increased by 59 percent, with 165,000 hectares planted with poppy in 2006 compared with 104,000 in 2005.

“It is indeed very bad, you can say it is out of control,” Mr. Costa said in an interview on Friday, before the announcement.

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FULL TIMES ARTICLE CAN BE READ AT THIS LINK