Opium An Economy of Afghanistan History essay
Breaking the chains. Afghanistan's relationship with the opium economy has complicated its counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics strategy over the past decade. Rampant corruption, competition for power and limited agricultural alternatives have combined with tempting economic incentives to sustain a dangerous and destructive opium cultivation in Afghanistan – latest findings and emerging threats, is the first report on the illicit opium trade since the return of the Taliban in power. Authorities have banned all poppy cultivation and all narcotics under strict new laws, in. Opium is the essential ingredient for the production of the street drug, opium production in Afghanistan has soared despite efforts at eradication. This is partly due to a prolonged drought linked to climate change. But it is also due to the collapse of traditional irrigation systems and the social cohesion on which the maintenance of those systems depends. This crisis, in turn, raises deeper questions: Afghanistan is the world capital of opium; estimates peg its share of global opium production at . percent, with an estimate of 200 percent less. Bangkok. Myanmar has overtaken Afghanistan as the world's largest opium producer after a third straight year of cultivation expansion fueled by the country's civil war..