A recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) ‘muddies the water on one of the most important issues in the debate — the effects of Afghanistan’s drug production.’ Entitled Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, the report ‘gives the false impression that the Taliban are the main culprits behind Afghanistan’s skyrocketing drug production. It also implies that drugs are the main reason why the Taliban are gaining in strength, absolving the United States and NATO of their own responsibility in fomenting the insurgency.’

It has already been known that the ‘United States and its Afghan allies bear a large share of responsibility for the drug industry’s dramatic expansion since the invasion.’ Inherent in the report is the authors’ admission that ‘reduced levels of drug production would have little effect on the insurgency’s vigor.’

Afghanistan has the highest income from opiates. Total revenues from these, generated in Afghanistan, are approximately $3.4 billion per year. Based on UNODC figures, the Taliban claim only 4% of the revenue pie, while opium farmers own 21% of the total amount. The al-Qaeda does not figure into the sharing equation. According to the report, the al-Qaeda “does not appear to have a direct role in the Afghan opiates trade.” The remaining 75% chunk of the generated opiate revenues is ‘captured by government officials, the police, local and regional power brokers and traffickers — in short, many of the groups now supported (or tolerated) by the United States and NATO are important actors in the drug trade.’

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Via Foreign Policy in Focus