The Qatar government has urged the international community to support Afghanistan in helping former poppy farmers find alternate ways to earn a living.

According to a statement delivered in Vienna by Jassim Yaqoub Al-Hammadi, Qatar’s envoy to the UN, there have been some positive indicators in the global fight against drugs.

He said at the 68th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs this week that despite an overall bleak picture globally, “there are some positive indicators, such as the sharp decline in opium production in Afghanistan and the ongoing efforts by the Syrian government to dismantle captagon laboratories and destroy the produced stock.”

He called for concerted international efforts to support Afghanistan and the Syrian Arab Republic, particularly in helping Afghan farmers through alternative development programs and supporting domestic economic alternatives to drug cultivation.

Al-Hammadi said Qatar has emphasized that the challenges the world faces today in combating drugs can only be addressed through the implementation of commitments under the three international drug control conventions, ministerial declarations, and support for the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) as the primary policy-making body of the United Nations responsible for drug control affairs.

Afghanistan has long had a history of opium poppy cultivation and harvest. In 2021, Afghanistan’s harvest produced more than 90 percent of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95 percent of the European supply.

The country has been the world’s leading illicit drug producer since 2001.