The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report that Afghanistan continued to account for the “majority (80 per cent) of global illicit opium production in 2022”.

June 26th marks the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

However, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that there has been no new survey about the poppy cultivation in the country.

 “It has been two years since the cultivation of poppy has been banned. I am sure that even one percent has not been cultivated, if it was cultivated, it has been eliminated. It means that in 2023 we have absolutely cleaned Afghanistan of cultivation of poppy… the 80 percent claim is not correct,” he said.

In a separate report released by the UNODC, it said that Afghanistan is home to an estimated 3.5 million drug users, a number that accounts for nearly 10 percent of the total population.

“Since political change in August 2021, most drug treatment and rehabilitation centers in the country are struggling to remain operational due to resource limitation,” the report said.

“The ban on cultivation of poppy and production of drugs and its trafficking can happen when there is international monitoring, and this process is being assisted by the international organizations and being practically put into effect,” said Wais Naseri, a political analyst.

“The cultivation and trafficking of drugs has been reduced based on the decree of the Islamic Emirate leader. To eliminate it fully, there is a need for cooperation of the international community, but unfortunately the international community has not helped Afghanistan in this regard as it should,” said Hassan Haqyar, a political analyst.

The farmers in the southern areas of the country said that their harvests of poppy have been eliminated by the interim government’s forces.

On the arrival of Eid al-Adha, the leader of the Islamic Emirate, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, said that “as a result of continued efforts of the Islamic Emirate, the cultivation of poppy has eradicated in the country, farmers are looking for alternatives and legal cultivation is expanding, meanwhile, ban has imposed on production, trafficking and use of all kinds of drugs and now, many citizens, specially the youth are saved from this harm.”