Production and smuggling of narcotics will rise under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, warn senior UN officials

Kabul: – Senior officials from the United Nations (UN) have warned, ‘The terrorist and criminal organisations have started setting up base in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country. Therefore, the possibility of production and smuggling of narcotics has increased substantially.’ The media points out that the UN actions against narcotics have been stopped since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan.

Ever since Afghanistan went into the hands of the Taliban, concerns are being expressed over the production of narcotics in that country. An emergency meeting of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the body which monitors narcotic smuggling around the globe, was held in the last week. UNODC President Ghada Waly warned over the current scenario in Afghanistan during this meeting, which was held in Vienna. Waly stressed stopping the production and smuggling of narcotics in Afghanistan.

85% of the total narcotic production in the world is in Afghanistan alone. The changed scenario in Afghanistan has created an opportunity for the terrorist and criminal organisations to increase illegal smuggling of narcotics substances, taking advantage of the instability in the country. UNODC President Waly warned that if it has to be ensured that Afghanistan does not become a safe haven for the terrorists, intense efforts will have to be made to stop the production and smuggling of narcotic substances.

Whereas Mohammed Khan Andar, an international analyst on the Afghanistan issue, has issued a more severe warning. Andar warned, ‘It is a fact that if we don’t fight against this phenomenon, poverty, misery, and Afghanistan’s situation will increase the cultivation of narcotics. Our country will still be among those countries where cultivation has a high percentage.’ A few days ago, Paris based Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) also had expressed concerns over terrorism and related economic offences in Afghanistan.

While the international organisations and analysts are warning regarding the swarms of terrorist organisations and narcotics smuggling, the Taliban has said that the situation is under control. Taliban claimed that narcotics smuggling has stopped in Afghanistan since they took over the country. Taliban also said that those involved in narcotics smuggling had been taken into custody.

However, since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15, all UNODC operations have halted. At the same time, large-scale narcotics-producing provinces are under Taliban control. Therefore, no one can verify the authenticity of the claims made by the Taliban. It has already been exposed that the Taliban’s finances are entirely dependent on the drug trade.

In such a scenario, responsible analysts worldwide express concerns that the Taliban will continue to encourage the drug trade in their country instead of stopping it. The rise in the drug trade in Afghanistan will be double trouble for the rest of the world, as terrorist organisations thrive on funds generated in drug trafficking.