"This is all times highest drug production rate from Afghanistan (after US invasion) than it was in the time of Taliban"

"Drug trafficing is an industry worth of over 78 billion $ an year between the major modern world" (Ref 4)

Let us not play blind here. Let us begin with a fact on board taken directly from United Nations 2010 Word Drug Report which clearly presents the following graph on first page 24 and then refines for Afghanistan on page 35 (please note that in 2001 Taliban were holding control of Afghanistan),

More land is used in Afghanistan for Opium production than Coco cultivation in Latin America. Nearly 90% (to be precise 89%) of Opium is now coming from Afghanistan directly for last three years and guess what, the decrease that we seen in above figure since 2006 is not due to any efforts taken by United States to reduce production but is rather due to decrease in land to harvest Opium (Taliban’s today control 90% of Afghanistan).

Another important fact from the graph above is that since 1998 – 2009 the increase in Opium production from Afghanistan was 156%. Taliban were bringing it down when incharge of the government, so what actually US invasion has resulted in? Clearly in increased opium cultivation as we will examine further.

Of the opium that is not converted into heroin, two thirds is consumed in just five countries: all five countries are those that closely surround base with Afghanistan. However it would also be note-able how good the Taliban period was for USA citizens if you consider the table  (the use of Heroine produced from Afghanistan in USA is highlighted) below (they brought opium production to mere 1%),

The Irony of the matter is that UNO report writes something like this on page 38,

“In Afghanistan, a conservative estimate suggests that Taliban insurgents generated some US$125 million per year in profits from the local opiate trade alone in the past several years. In Pakistan, Taliban allies such as al-Qaida and other like-minded groups have bases along the main heroin/opium trafficking routes and are well located to benefit from trafficking.” 

However before targeting Talibans it doesn’t provide any explanation as how and why opium production in Afghanistan was on growth after US invasion? If Talibans had brought Opium production to such a low rate in history and they are now actually facing a crucial war in which they are on retreat against USA for last 9 years then how on earth they are able to do this trafficking and earn millions of dollars? Let us see what others speak of it.

Opium Production is governed by United States after Invasion

Two bridges were developed by United States in Afghanistan and it was announced that they are going to support commerce and trade (Ref 2).

1-      Over Amu Dari River in 2004 to Tajikistan

2-      Over Panj river in 2007 to Tajikistan

However as it is found today, the only commerce made possible by this route is Opium or other drugs. Interesting fact is that once you enter into Tajikistan, there is no VISA requirement for Russia and from there onwards on your west is Europe where the need of Heroine is at its peak (While reading this, keep the following pictorial representations in front of you with red arrow pointing towards Tajikistan),

If someone still thinks that by investing on these bridges the purpose of US and Afghan government was to facilitate other types of trade here is another fact (see the per KG rate of Opium trafficing made possible to Tajikistan from Afghanistan). Is this not a clear cut evidence that this route is facilitating trafficing at lower rates?

Despite that a great majority of Opium traffic flow is from Tajikistan, the US forces seems to have either no control or facilitate the trafficking since the supply to Russia is only governed from within Tajikistan and the number of arrests made possible at Afghanistan - Tajikistan border are way lesser than made possible at Tajikistan - Russia border. You got the point? The only inflow of Opium into Tajikistan is from Afghanistan where the trade is facilitated by Afghan plus Tajikistan's government and thus such low degree of arrests are made to show the world that govermenc is in place while statistics depict a different picture (see the two figures below and compare statistics),

Now take a different look at how the production supply for Opium around the globe is facilitated by this “War against Terror”? The demand around the globe is not just increased by war against terror but rather controlled by producing more Opium in Afghanistan.

If you consider that Opium cultivation is not guarded by deployed army and rather Taliban are behind this cultivation since they have scattered after US strong hold, you are miserably on mistake since this pictorial representation clearly reveals that province of Helmand which is controlled by US troops (Ref 3) today is the province where cultivation is found at the peak in past three years,

Compare this with the strong hold on production of Opium by Taliban. The graph below clearly shows that they were Taliban, whom minimized the cultivation (as compared to eradication) of Opium during their regime which is also a depiction that they know a lot better on how to enforce laws than what NATO based democratic government doing today,

Conclusion

Since the time of invasion of Afghanistan, the Opium production is given a boost by United States and its powered Afghan government. Hamid Karzai and his clan are heavily involved in this business. This being understood, they have taken measures to cultivate Opium, provided support for trafficking with Tajikistan in a legal way and this has resulted as an increase in use of Opium around the globe and has especially hit Russia. More on this topic can seen from this video,

References

Ref 1: http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/World_Drug_Report_2010_lo-res.pdf

Ref 2: http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2007/August/20070829160347saikceinawz0.2609064.html

Ref 3: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2011/03/23/british-troops-to-hand-over-control-of-helmand-capital-to-afghanistan-government-86908-23009580/

Ref 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSJ048yrjG0&feature=related