This is a file created for training purposes only. It should not be cited for academic purposes or otherwise used as a source document, as none of it is original material. Slide content was essentially copied and pasted wholesale from other sources. These sources are referenced on the last slide, however. Feel free to review those and use, as desired.

1. Afghanistan’s
Heroin Industry
Opium Poppies in Afghanistan
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2. Opium Poppy Cultivation
OPIUM POPPY CULTIVATION

3. Opium Issues
AFGHANISTAN’S OPIUM PROBLEM
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Afghanistan now produces around 93% o the world’s opiates, more
f
than twice the world’s demand; one province, Helmand, has recently
e
produced 50%
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Many opium farmers work land owned by rich landowners who often
don’t live i t area or even the country; sometimes they prevent the
n
h
farmers from growing anything else, under threat of eviction or worse
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Government poppy eradication attempts have often targeted farmers
who are unable to pay bribes or are
competing with poppy fields under the
control of more powerful parties
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Extreme poppy eradication methods, such
as spraying poppy fields, could drive farmers
into the hands of the insurgents

4. Regional Heroin Flows From Afghanistan, 2008
2008 Regional Heroin Distribution
(Source: UNODC)
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5. Regional Opium Facts
REGIONAL OPIUM FACTS
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•
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•
•
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•
•
•
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•
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Opium crop takes 4 months to mature and requires little water or care
Ten kilograms of opium paste produces one kilogram of heroin
In 1987 Pakistan produced 70% o the world’s heroin supply
f
With US assistance, Pakistan nearly eradicated poppy cultivation
Due to agricultural destruction (particularly of irrigation works) during
the Soviet-Afghan and Afghan Civil Wars, opium production dramatically
increased in Afghanistan in the 1990s
Taliban taxed both the production (usher) and trafficking (zakat) of opium
Taliban banned poppy cultivation in 2001 in order to increase prices
Afghan farmers receive 20% of the revenue from drugs; traffickers receive
80%
Roughly 170,000 Afghans (to include 30,000 women) are heroin addicts
3% of Iran’s ppu lation over the age of 15 are heroin addicts
o
Nearly half of Iran’s 170,000 prisoners are held on drug related offenses
Since 1990, some 3,000 Iranian security officials have been killed in
battles against traffickers
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6. Opium Export Routes
OPIUM EXPORT ROUTES
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7. Export Routes and Insurgency
OPIUM EXPORT ROUTES AND INSURGENCY
Note the proximity
between insurgent
presence and drug
routes and markets.
The southern
provinces are
particularly
vulnerable to
Taliban control; the
opium growing and
trafficking in these
provinces has been
difficult to eradicate.
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8. APA Citations
• TRADOC Culture Center. (2010). Afghanistan
smart book. Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/SpyFiles/afghanistansmart-book-second-edition-february-201014913611
• Stories from UNODC. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html