The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says that while the Taliban ban has decreased poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, the stockpiles stored by farmers remain substantial.
In its quarterly report to the US Congress, SIGAR stated that Alcis imagery and livelihood analyses show the amount of opium stored in Afghanistan remains substantial, reaching up to 16,567 metric tons.
“This has raised the value of stockpiled opium, undercutting small farmers, and greatly increasing the capital and purchasing power of landed farmers with significant opium reserves,” SIGAR said.
According to the report, opium prices have nearly doubled since the Taliban ban, rising from $417 per kilogram in August 2023 to $802 per kilogram in December.
“The juxtaposition of a steep reduction in cultivation and a continuing and thriving opium market with even higher prices complicates what the ban means for Afghanistan and the world,” SIGAR added.
In April 2022, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, issued a decree prohibiting the production, usage, transportation, and trade of all types of drugs, including opium poppy, throughout Afghanistan.
Last year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that the Taliban’s drug ban in Afghanistan led to a 95% reduction in the cultivation of opium poppies, which are used to produce morphine and heroin.
Poppy cultivation has been a crucial revenue source for many impoverished Afghan farmers, particularly in the southeastern provinces of the country. According to the SIGAR report, Afghan farmers have lost over $1 billion in income from opium sales due to the significant decline.
“Afghan families who depended on the opium economy are coping with the economic loss in counterproductive ways, such as selling their assets, eating less and lower-quality foods, and pulling out their children from secondary schools to work instead,” part of the SIGAR report reads.
The Taliban has been unable to provide alternative livelihoods for the tens of thousands of farmers who depend on the drug trade for their survival.
According to the SIGAR report, in Helmand province, where poppy cultivation decreased by 99% in 2023, farmers have mostly replaced poppy with wheat. However, SIGAR stresses that wheat is not a sustainable alternative to opium, as it is an annual crop that can be replaced with opium at any time.
“Promoting wheat as an alternative to opium can be misleading because, for the vast majority of farmers, wheat is a staple household crop, not a cash crop,” SIGAR said.
