Taliban Poppy Ban Worsens Poverty in Afghanistan, Experts Warn
The blanket’s ban on poppy cultivation by the Taliban Emir was worsening the terrible Afghan economic situation and could lead to armed rebellion to the Islamic regime, experts said.
This is a crazy policy at the worst time that is possible,” said William Byrd, Afghan senior expert at the Institute of Peace A.S., in response to VOA’s questions on the event on Wednesday.
The ban on the Taliban followed nearly two decades of international efforts to wean the land-locked country of opium production, which contributed more than 80% of global supply. The policies of the previous Afghan government contemporary, which was issued by Western donors, was mostly considered a failure because opium production increased from year to year.
Forbidden opium economic bait organizes crime, corruption and militancy in Afghanistan and in other parts of the world, the United Nations and other organizations.
But with the Afghan economy collapsed after withdrawal of most international assistance and many populations at risk of hunger, experts worried that the Taliban step to take action against this time would be more dangerous than goodness.
This year’s harvest, anticipated higher than 6,800 tons last year, represents one of the remaining sources of income for Afghan farmers and seasonal employment opportunities for tens of thousands of Afghan young people.
The spacious Poppy field, which includes 177,000 hectares of land in 2021, created the equivalent of 190,700 full-time jobs in 2019, according to the UN office on drugs and crime (UNODC).
Small-scale poppy cultivation is an important source of income income and income stability for many Afghan farmers. Poppy cultivation prohibitions will make their livelihood increasingly precarious,” Jeffrey Clemens, an economic professor associate at the University of California, San Diego. , tell VOA.
The ban on Poppy Taliban does not say what alternative livelihoods and income facilities will be given to farmers, workers, and Poppy traders.
If anyone cultivates Poppy, the plant will be destroyed and he will be handled in accordance with Sharia,” Read the Taliban command.
Known because of their hard law enforcement tactics, the Taliban is expected to be able to implement Poppy’s prohibitions only through coercive ways. The Taliban has imposed an effective ban on poppy cultivation in 2001, just before the international military intervention A.S.-LED sums the regime.
