Taliban’s narcotics policy an opportunity to stabilize Afghan economy: Think tank

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – The anti-drug policies of the interim Afghan Taliban administration provide an opportunity to stabilize the Afghan economy, an international think tank said Thursday.

While acknowledging “one of the most successful poppy elimination efforts in modern history,” the International Crisis Group’s Afghan analyst, Ibraheem Bahiss, said “the ban has also devastated livelihoods in rural areas already reeling from a severe economic crisis as well as the effects of climate change.”

In a report last November, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said opium cultivation fell throughout the war-torn country to just 10,800 hectares (26,687 acres) in 2023 from 233,000 hectares (575,755 acres) the previous year, slashing supply by 95% following a ban on all cultivation of opium poppy imposed by the Taliban authorities in April 2022.

“As long as rural Afghans lack alternative livelihood opportunities, the likelihood of large-scale displacement and rising emigration will remain high,” said Bahiss.

The international think tank, known for policymaking advisories, said: “Making the narcotics policy (of the interim administration) sustainable and equitable will require a multilateral effort between Afghanistan and the outside world.”

“In the meantime, the Taliban should adopt more lenient measures as it implements its eradication campaign to enable the poorest farmers and those most impacted by the ban to gradually transition away from the poppy as a cash crop,” it added.

The Afghan Taliban entered the capital, Kabul, on Aug. 15, 2021 and swept back into power, resulting in an end to the deployment of foreign forces in a nation entangled in war for decades. Since then, the security of Afghanistan has improved significantly.

“The anti-drug initiative is in many foreign actors’ interest, creating opportunities for donors to support Afghanistan’s economic stabilization,” said the group, which is set to release its report titled "Trouble In Afghanistan’s Opium Fields: The Taliban War On Drugs."

In the report, the group looks at the Taliban’s "sweeping campaign against narcotics, which has drastically reduced opium poppy cultivation and upended Afghanistan’s drug economy."

“Licit crops will not offer sufficient employment, so the focus should be on job creation in non-farm industries,” it said.

Since the Taliban's return to the power, the US has withheld some $7 billion in Afghan Central Bank reserves.​​​​​​​