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Reports of significant drop in poppy production in Afghanistan ‘credible’: US special envoy
Reports that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) have implemented policies to significantly decrease opium poppy production this year are credible and important, US special envoy Thomas West said.
“Every country in the region and beyond has a shared interest in an Afghanistan free of drugs,” West said in a tweet.
The BBC reported on Tuesday that an investigation by the media outlet has found a marked decrease in poppy cultivation across Afghanistan this year.
The BBC reported that it traveled in Afghanistan – and used satellite analysis – to examine the effects of a decree issued in April 2022 by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada that the cultivation of poppies, from which opium, the key ingredient for the drug heroin can be extracted, was strictly prohibited.
One expert quoted in the report said that poppy cultivation has declined 80 percent this year. Helmand, in particular, has seen 99 percent drop.