Taleban Making Millions on Opium

Despite grand and costly efforts to eradicate poppy growth in Afghanistan, the crop is expected to yield similiar amounts as last year. According to Thailand's Bangkok Post June 15, 2008 article,("Afghanistan's Opium Dilemma") "Afghanistan's 2008 opium crop is expected to produce similar yields as last year's record of 8,243 metric tonnes, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In 2007, five provinces which are Taleban strongholds - Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Nimroz and Farah - were responsible for 77.7% of the country's opium cultivation. Helmand province alone produced 53% of the nation's total crop. Many people mistakenly believe the Taleban are opposed to the drug trade due to the ban they placed on opium cultivation during their last year in power, before liberation of the country by the US-led coalition in 2001. However, even prior to capturing Kabul on September 27, 1996, the Taleban were making deals to allow opium cultivation and processing in return for a cut of the profits."

The article states, "Opium cultivation increased significantly each year under Taleban rule until they issued decrees in July 2000 banning poppy planting, after that year's crop was safely harvested. During the ban, the Taleban were selling opium at newly inflated prices and allowed others to sell, process, and transport drugs, with the Taleban taking their usual fees in taxes and protection money. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration said the ban was probably an attempt to increase the price of opium, which declined following a series of bumper crops. Before the Taleban ban in 2000, the farm-gate price for dry opium ranged from US$30 to $100 per kilogramme. The ban caused a surge in opium prices that topped at $700 per kg in September of 2001, creating millions of dollars in additional profits for the Taleban and their associates. The price of opium plummeted to approximately $100 per kg when wholesalers dumped their stock after the United States attacked the Taleban on October 7, 2001. Opium prices climbed significantly during 2003 and 2004, but have softened again due to bumper crops the last two years. The current average price in Afghanistan for a kilo of dry opium is about $106. The Taleban make their money by levying taxes of 10% on opium cultivation and up to 15% to 20% on processing, trades, smuggling, and distribution. This is in addition to the money they are paid to provide protection for opium fields, heroin processing labs, drug shipments, and narcotics traffickers. In many cases, taxes and fees are paid to the Taleban in drugs, which they sell or store for future sales."

The article adds, "During the Taleban years of 1996 to 2001, when income from drugs was their sole source of foreign exchange, the Taleban made $30 to $50 million a year. These sums, while substantial for a regional group of narco-traffickers, are dwarfed by what the Taleban have made the last five years. The Taleban's income from narcotics began growing during 2003 and 2004 when opium prices and production soared. They garnered additional financial benefits from the explosion in cultivation and processing between 2005 and 2007. 'They earned much less when they governed the country because the price of opium was much lower,' said Dr Pietschmann, of the UNODC. 'I calculated they are making $250 to $300 million per year over the last three years.' The Taleban have made at least $1 billion to $1.6 billion from narcotics trafficking during the last ten years."