ianstone
09-30-2010, 04:55 PM
Taliban rakes in £63million from heroin crops despite British troops' crackdown on growers
By Ian Drury (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Ian+Drury)
Last updated at 6:53 PM on 30th September 2010
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Disease keeps prices high despite drop in production
Number of households involved in farming drug on rise
Industry supports Taliban insurgency against 150,000 troops
The Taliban made £65million last year from Afghanistan’s opium trade despite the presence of thousands of British troops, a damning UN report has found.
In a startling indication that the war on poppy growing is having little effect, insurgents are still reaping the benefits despite the loss of life and huge amounts of money being thrown at the problem.
The report for the United Nations ominously warns that the illegal trade will grow even more.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-0-0B6986B9000005DC-409_468x299.jpg High: while disease cut the amount of opium produced in Afghanistan by almost half this year compared to last, there was no fall in the number of poppy fields under cultivation and farmers earned far more for their crops
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316562-0B62C4EB000005DC-772_468x421.jpg Big score: Afghanistan produces 90 per cent of the world's opium, which, in turn, produces heroin
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316562-0B6987B2000005DC-376_468x313.jpg Killing fields: Some £63 million is earned by insurgents per year through the opium trade - it helps fund the Taliban's war efforts
Helmand province, where 9,500 British soldiers are battling the Taliban, produced 53 per cent of the country’s opium, the raw ingredient to make heroin.
The insurgents receive about $100million (£65million) a year from Afghanistan’s illegal opium trade. the report said.
The cash bonanza will continue to fund their fight against British and NATO troops. In the last 12 months, 92 UK servicemen have lost their lives in the country.
This is despite the U.S. and its coalition allies spending more than $250million (£190million) on counter-narcotics programmes in the war-ravaged nation.
In total the amount of poppy cultivated last year was 304,000 acres - the same as in 2009.
The figures are a damaging blow for Britain, whose deployment to the Taliban heartland of Helmand in 2006 intended to smash poppy cultivation and production.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316562-0B62C5EC000005DC-493_468x314.jpg Stash: Though some opium is seized, these latest figures offer are not expected to deter other farmers from cultivating
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316562-0B6986B1000005DC-634_468x668.jpg Come down: While opium production has decreased, the price has increased so much that farmers are earning more now than they were last year with less stock
Since then the UK death toll has risen to 337 since military action began in 2001.
Afghanistan produces 90 per cent of the world’s opium, said the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime.
Before the 2001 invasion, the Taliban had managed to drastically reduce the poppy crop.
But since being toppled it has backed poppy growing to finance its insurgency.
Cultivation of the multibillion-dollar crop in 2010 was the same as in 2009 after falling in the previous two years.
Opium production dropped 48 per cent to 3,600 metric tons, mainly due to the spread of a disease that damaged poppy plants.
But low harvest yields caused by blight is likely to lead to an increase in poppy prices – encouraging more poverty-stricken farmers to plant the crop.
In 2009, the average price per kilogram of dry opium at harvest was $64 (£41) per kilogram. It is now about $169 (£114) per kilogram.
UN officials warned three years ago that ‘frightening levels’ of poppy production was threatening the very survival of Afghanistan.
The coalition has poured money into the country to try to stem opium production as part of an effort to undercut funding for insurgent groups fighting the 150,000 coalition forces in the country.
The disappointing figures come despite years of programmes aimed at reducing the poppy crop, by giving farmers subsidised seeds for other crops and vouchers for farmers.
The wheat-distribution programme, where famers receive bags of cereal seeds to persuade them to quit growing narcotics, will begin shortly.
Experts said that if Afghanistan’s discredited government can provide security there would be less incentive for farmers to plant opium to survive.
Robert Watkins, the deputy UN envoy in Afghanistan, said: ‘If there is not going to be security in Afghanistan across the entire country, we are not going to be able to eliminate this problem.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316562/Afghanistans-opium-farmers-earn-63-million-year-fund-Taliban-war-despite-crackdown.html#ixzz11345FKBR
By Ian Drury (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Ian+Drury)
Last updated at 6:53 PM on 30th September 2010
Comments (0) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316562/Afghanistans-opium-farmers-earn-63-million-year-fund-Taliban-war-despite-crackdown.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316562/Afghanistans-opium-farmers-earn-63-million-year-fund-Taliban-war-despite-crackdown.html)
Disease keeps prices high despite drop in production
Number of households involved in farming drug on rise
Industry supports Taliban insurgency against 150,000 troops
The Taliban made £65million last year from Afghanistan’s opium trade despite the presence of thousands of British troops, a damning UN report has found.
In a startling indication that the war on poppy growing is having little effect, insurgents are still reaping the benefits despite the loss of life and huge amounts of money being thrown at the problem.
The report for the United Nations ominously warns that the illegal trade will grow even more.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-0-0B6986B9000005DC-409_468x299.jpg High: while disease cut the amount of opium produced in Afghanistan by almost half this year compared to last, there was no fall in the number of poppy fields under cultivation and farmers earned far more for their crops
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316562-0B62C4EB000005DC-772_468x421.jpg Big score: Afghanistan produces 90 per cent of the world's opium, which, in turn, produces heroin
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316562-0B6987B2000005DC-376_468x313.jpg Killing fields: Some £63 million is earned by insurgents per year through the opium trade - it helps fund the Taliban's war efforts
Helmand province, where 9,500 British soldiers are battling the Taliban, produced 53 per cent of the country’s opium, the raw ingredient to make heroin.
The insurgents receive about $100million (£65million) a year from Afghanistan’s illegal opium trade. the report said.
The cash bonanza will continue to fund their fight against British and NATO troops. In the last 12 months, 92 UK servicemen have lost their lives in the country.
This is despite the U.S. and its coalition allies spending more than $250million (£190million) on counter-narcotics programmes in the war-ravaged nation.
In total the amount of poppy cultivated last year was 304,000 acres - the same as in 2009.
The figures are a damaging blow for Britain, whose deployment to the Taliban heartland of Helmand in 2006 intended to smash poppy cultivation and production.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316562-0B62C5EC000005DC-493_468x314.jpg Stash: Though some opium is seized, these latest figures offer are not expected to deter other farmers from cultivating
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316562-0B6986B1000005DC-634_468x668.jpg Come down: While opium production has decreased, the price has increased so much that farmers are earning more now than they were last year with less stock
Since then the UK death toll has risen to 337 since military action began in 2001.
Afghanistan produces 90 per cent of the world’s opium, said the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime.
Before the 2001 invasion, the Taliban had managed to drastically reduce the poppy crop.
But since being toppled it has backed poppy growing to finance its insurgency.
Cultivation of the multibillion-dollar crop in 2010 was the same as in 2009 after falling in the previous two years.
Opium production dropped 48 per cent to 3,600 metric tons, mainly due to the spread of a disease that damaged poppy plants.
But low harvest yields caused by blight is likely to lead to an increase in poppy prices – encouraging more poverty-stricken farmers to plant the crop.
In 2009, the average price per kilogram of dry opium at harvest was $64 (£41) per kilogram. It is now about $169 (£114) per kilogram.
UN officials warned three years ago that ‘frightening levels’ of poppy production was threatening the very survival of Afghanistan.
The coalition has poured money into the country to try to stem opium production as part of an effort to undercut funding for insurgent groups fighting the 150,000 coalition forces in the country.
The disappointing figures come despite years of programmes aimed at reducing the poppy crop, by giving farmers subsidised seeds for other crops and vouchers for farmers.
The wheat-distribution programme, where famers receive bags of cereal seeds to persuade them to quit growing narcotics, will begin shortly.
Experts said that if Afghanistan’s discredited government can provide security there would be less incentive for farmers to plant opium to survive.
Robert Watkins, the deputy UN envoy in Afghanistan, said: ‘If there is not going to be security in Afghanistan across the entire country, we are not going to be able to eliminate this problem.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316562/Afghanistans-opium-farmers-earn-63-million-year-fund-Taliban-war-despite-crackdown.html#ixzz11345FKBR