One of the many 'achievements' of the Karzai regime:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opium production is estimated to increase 61 percent this year in insurgency-hit Afghanistan, a United Nations report said Tuesday.
"Potential opium production in 2011 was estimated at 5,800 metric tons, a 61 percent increase compared to 2010," said the report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC) here in Afghan capital Kabul.
"The Afghan Opium Survey 2011 sends a strong message that we cannot afford to be lethargic in the face of this problem," said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC) Country Office Representative in a joint press conference with United Nations Special Envoy for Afghanistan Staffan de Mistura and Afghan officials here.
"We still have around 1 million Afghans, which means 1 million Afghan families, who are being and are affected by drug addiction and in a proud country like Afghanistan, this is very sad," said the top UN diplomat de Mistura while expressing concerns over a rise in number of addicts in the country.
The report said that the total area of the country used for opium-poppy cultivation was estimated at 131,000 hectares in 2011, a 7 percent increase compared with last year.
The average farm-gate price of dry opium at harvest time has risen 43 percent this year and the total farm-gate income is set to increase by 133 percent to 1,407 million U.S. dollars in 2011, according to the report.
Some 95 percent of the opium cultivation in 2011, according to the report, took place in southern and western regions such as Kandahar, Uruzgan, Nimroz and Farah provinces where militancy is on the rise and security problems are prevalent.
"We cannot afford to ignore the record profits for non-farmers, such as traders and insurgents, which in turn fuel corruption, criminality and instability. This is a distressing situation," Lemahieu said in the report, adding, "On the positive side, there was an increase in poppy crop eradication, significant seizures over recent months and the leadership demonstrated by the Ministry for Counter-Narcotics."
"Afghan special counter-narcotic police forces, backed by army and NATO-led Coalition forces have eradicated over 3,810 hectares in 18 provinces since the beginning of this year which indicates a 65 percent increase in eradication of opium poppy this year," said Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics Zaraar Ahmad Muqbil Usmani at the same press conference.
However, according to the report, the number of poppy-free provinces decreased from 20 in 2010 to 17 in 2011 out of the country's 34 provinces as Baghlan and Faryab provinces in northern region and Kapisa province in eastern region have lost the poppy- free status and resumed poppy cultivation," the report said.
"With the high prices and increased production, opium is a profitable business in Afghanistan in 2011. The farm-gate value of opium production alone is 1.4 billion U.S. dollars or nine percent of the country's GDP. If the profits of manufacturing and trafficking heroin are added to this figure, opium is a significant part of the Afghan economy and provides considerable funding to the insurgency and fuels corruption," Lemahieu quoted Yury Fedotov, UNODC executive director, as saying.
In the meantime, Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) kept up pressure on insurgents and drug dealers all over the country over the past couple of months.
"Drugs are the biggest financer of the insurgents that has to be stopped and we have made progress, only in the last three weeks three quarters of the billion dollars worth of drugs found and destroyed in Afghanistan," ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson told reporters on Monday.
ISAF and Afghan forces managed to chase the insurgents in large parts of the country and we will continue to do so to deny them, Jacobson said, adding, "And the next winter we will not rest."
However, Afghanistan, according to media reports, produces 90 percent of the raw material used in manufacturing heroin to the world and has remained the world's largest opium poppy producing country despite government efforts to check poppy cultivation in the militancy-hit nation.
Afghan Opium Production to Rise 61%: UN
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opium production is estimated to increase 61 percent this year in insurgency-hit Afghanistan, a United Nations report said Tuesday.
"Potential opium production in 2011 was estimated at 5,800 metric tons, a 61 percent increase compared to 2010," said the report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC) here in Afghan capital Kabul.
"The Afghan Opium Survey 2011 sends a strong message that we cannot afford to be lethargic in the face of this problem," said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC) Country Office Representative in a joint press conference with United Nations Special Envoy for Afghanistan Staffan de Mistura and Afghan officials here.
"We still have around 1 million Afghans, which means 1 million Afghan families, who are being and are affected by drug addiction and in a proud country like Afghanistan, this is very sad," said the top UN diplomat de Mistura while expressing concerns over a rise in number of addicts in the country.
The report said that the total area of the country used for opium-poppy cultivation was estimated at 131,000 hectares in 2011, a 7 percent increase compared with last year.
The average farm-gate price of dry opium at harvest time has risen 43 percent this year and the total farm-gate income is set to increase by 133 percent to 1,407 million U.S. dollars in 2011, according to the report.
Some 95 percent of the opium cultivation in 2011, according to the report, took place in southern and western regions such as Kandahar, Uruzgan, Nimroz and Farah provinces where militancy is on the rise and security problems are prevalent.
"We cannot afford to ignore the record profits for non-farmers, such as traders and insurgents, which in turn fuel corruption, criminality and instability. This is a distressing situation," Lemahieu said in the report, adding, "On the positive side, there was an increase in poppy crop eradication, significant seizures over recent months and the leadership demonstrated by the Ministry for Counter-Narcotics."
"Afghan special counter-narcotic police forces, backed by army and NATO-led Coalition forces have eradicated over 3,810 hectares in 18 provinces since the beginning of this year which indicates a 65 percent increase in eradication of opium poppy this year," said Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics Zaraar Ahmad Muqbil Usmani at the same press conference.
However, according to the report, the number of poppy-free provinces decreased from 20 in 2010 to 17 in 2011 out of the country's 34 provinces as Baghlan and Faryab provinces in northern region and Kapisa province in eastern region have lost the poppy- free status and resumed poppy cultivation," the report said.
"With the high prices and increased production, opium is a profitable business in Afghanistan in 2011. The farm-gate value of opium production alone is 1.4 billion U.S. dollars or nine percent of the country's GDP. If the profits of manufacturing and trafficking heroin are added to this figure, opium is a significant part of the Afghan economy and provides considerable funding to the insurgency and fuels corruption," Lemahieu quoted Yury Fedotov, UNODC executive director, as saying.
In the meantime, Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) kept up pressure on insurgents and drug dealers all over the country over the past couple of months.
"Drugs are the biggest financer of the insurgents that has to be stopped and we have made progress, only in the last three weeks three quarters of the billion dollars worth of drugs found and destroyed in Afghanistan," ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson told reporters on Monday.
ISAF and Afghan forces managed to chase the insurgents in large parts of the country and we will continue to do so to deny them, Jacobson said, adding, "And the next winter we will not rest."
However, Afghanistan, according to media reports, produces 90 percent of the raw material used in manufacturing heroin to the world and has remained the world's largest opium poppy producing country despite government efforts to check poppy cultivation in the militancy-hit nation.
Afghan Opium Production to Rise 61%: UN
