Afghanistan. Sowing the Seeds of Division in Badakhshan?
Afghanistan. Sowing the Seeds of Division in Badakhshan?
A second consecutive year of a poppy ban in Afghanistan, but at what price?
In 2024, Afghanistan is experiencing an unprecedented second consecutive year of the Taliban’s poppy ban. This year, as in 2023, it is expected that poppy cultivation will be at close to historically low levels. For example, as of 22nd July, crop mapping of 14 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces responsible for 92% of the country’s total poppy cultivation in 2022 shows that cultivation had fallen to less than 4,000 hectares in 2024, compared to around 16,000 hectares in 2023 and almost 202,000 hectares in 2022. However, there are notable exceptions that have the potential to challenge the Emir’s ban. In remote, northeastern Badakhshan, widespread cultivation persists, and eradication efforts have been met with violent resistance in which at least two citizens and three Taliban soldiers were killed. Resistance was further fuelled by perceptions of ethnic bias by the predominantly Pashtoon authorities and the sense that large farmers in south and southwest are profiting from the higher prices created by the ban. (David Mansfield in alcis.org, UK, 29.07.2024)