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Afghanistan: Taliban ban drug cultivation

2022-04-03T11:25:11.077Z


For a long time, the radical Islamic Taliban held out their protective hand over drug production. Now the regime is striving for international recognition - and is punishing poppy cultivation with severe penalties.


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Afghan poppy farmers at harvest: largest producer in the world

Photo: Abdul Khaliq/AP

The Taliban, who took power in Afghanistan in August last year, were long seen as the main beneficiaries of their country's drug business.

Afghanistan produces more opium than any other country in the world.

Now, however, the Islamists have announced a ban on drug cultivation.

"In accordance with the decree of the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, all Afghans will be informed that the cultivation of poppies is strictly prohibited throughout the country with immediate effect," says an order by Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, which was released at a press conference of the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul.

"Anyone violating this decree will have their crops destroyed immediately and the violator will be treated according to Sharia."

The manufacture, use or transport of other drugs is also prohibited under this order.

fight against sanctions

Afghanistan's opium production, which the United Nations estimates reached US$1.4 billion in 2017, has risen sharply in recent months and has long been under Taliban protection.

Now, however, the Islamists are trying to get their government formally recognized by the international community so that economic sanctions can also be lifted.

The ban on drug cultivation is one step in this direction.

The Taliban had already banned poppy cultivation towards the end of their rule in 2000, but faced a backlash from the population, a significant part of whom lives from poppy cultivation.

This was particularly true in recent months, when the country slipped into a catastrophic economic situation as a result of the sanctions.

In the south-eastern provinces of the country in particular, opium would have produced significantly higher yields than wheat or other legal crops, say experts.

In Afghanistan, the economy has collapsed since the Taliban took power, and the new rulers seem unable to find any means of counteracting this themselves.

In addition to the economic decline, women are also increasingly suffering under the Taliban regime.

Girls' right to education is being increasingly restricted by denying them access to schools.

Recently, women are no longer allowed to fly without a male companion, and those in power in Kabul amusement parks have ordered gender segregation.

rai/Reuters

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-04-03

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