Opium production in Afghanistan has plummeted since the Taliban banned cultivation of the poppy plant, according to a UN report published on Sunday.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers pledged to wipe out the country’s drug industry, banning poppy cultivation in April 2022.
Poppy plants are the source of opium and heroin. Afghanistan was the world’s biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia before the Taliban takeover.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Opium production in Afghanistan has plummeted since the Taliban banned cultivation of the poppy plant, according to a UN report published on Sunday.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers pledged to wipe out the country’s drug industry, banning poppy cultivation in April 2022.
Afghanistan was the world’s biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia before the Taliban takeover.
The UNODC said the Taliban crackdown on the poppy industry could have a negative impact on many Afghans’ livelihoods and warned of “humanitarian consequences for many vulnerable rural communities.”
“Today, Afghanistan’s people need urgent humanitarian assistance… to absorb the shock of lost income and save lives,” UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said.
Afghanistan has already been grappling with a severe humanitarian crisis sparked by decades of war, as well as natural disasters such as earthquakes and droughts.
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