IEA flatly rejects UN report on poppy cultivation increase in Afghanistan

The Ministry of Interior’s spokesman Abdul Matin Qane said on Wednesday the Islamic Emirate “completely” rejects the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report that poppy cultivation has increased by 19 percent this year, against 2023.

UNODC released its report on Wednesday, claiming opium cultivation rose by 19 percent despite a ban by the Islamic Emirate that almost eradicated the crop.

The 19 percent increase (12,800 hectares of poppies) year-on-year remains far below the 232,000 hectares cultivated when the IEA’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada banned the crop in April 2022.

Qane said in a statement the report is far from the truth.

“Since narcotics are a destructive phenomenon and forbidden from the perspective of the religion of Islam, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan based on the order of the leadership of the Emirate, has put the fight against this phenomenon as a priority.”

For years Afghanistan was the world’s biggest supplier of opium and heroin.

Many farmers in Afghanistan were hit hard financially by the ban and have not been able to reap the same profits from alternative crops.

The Islamic Emirate has however repeatedly called for international support for farmers to transition to alternative crops and livelihoods.