News Reports about the
Drug Trade in Afghanistan

December 12, 2021. "Meth and heroin fuel Afghanistan drugs boom", BBC News. Export quality methamphetamine is making its way to foreign countries and also providing a low cost drug for Afghanistan's addicts.

February 7, 2020. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released the results of the annual U.S. Government estimate measuring poppy cultivation and potential opium production in Afghanistan. White House.

December 26, 2019. "The Afghan Drug Debacle", Washington Examiner. Gary Anderson, a former civilian Department of State governance advisor at the district level, comments on the failed U.S. war on drugs in Afghanistan.

June 9, 2019. "A look at Task Force Southwest and the American effort to cripple the Taliban drug trade", The Freq.

April 25, 2019. "Despite claims to the contrary, US air raids against Afghanistan's drug labs have had little to no effect", LSE US Centre.

April 11, 2019. "Poppy Cultivation and Potential Opium Production in Afghanistan", White House Statement.

January 15, 2018. "From Bad to Bombing: US counter-narcotics policies in Afghanistan", by Jelena Bjelica, Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN).

January 9, 2018. "How the heroin trade explains the US-UK failure in Afghanistan", The Guardian.

December 11, 2017. "U.S. Bombing of Afghan Drug Labs Won't Crush the Taliban", International Crisis Group. Borhan Osman captures the details in the drug trade in Afghanistan. Soaring opium production has more to do with corruption within the Afghan government than the Taliban's need for funds. The Taliban will whither when there is good governance and basic services.

July 19, 2017. "Afghanistan's Opium Trade: A Free Market of Rackateers", The Diplomat, July 19, 2017. Franz J. Marty, a freelance reporter based in Kabul, writes up on the poppy growers of Kunar province, Afghanistan.

March 26, 2017. "To Defeat Terrorism in Afghanistan, Start With Opium Crops in Nangarhar Province", by Anders Corr, Forbes.com. Writer says that ISIS in eastern Afghanistan will soon capture the drug trade to finance operations.

December 10, 2016. "Want to Hurt the Taliban? Legalize Opium in Afghanistan", by Abigail Hall-Blanco, Defense One.

May 5, 2016. "The War on Opium in Afghanistan", Huffington Post.

May 4, 2016. "Bountiful Afghan Opium Harvest Yields Profits for the Taliban", The New York Times.

May 2, 2016. "Islamic State Eradicating Afghan Poppy Crops", Voice of America. The drug industry in Afghanistan has a new enemy.

March 4, 2016. "Opium bounces back, enricing Taliban and Afghan officials", IRIN.

February 16, 2016. "Penetrating Every Stage of Afghan Opium Chain, Taliban Become a Cartel", by Azam Ahmed, The New York Times.

February 15, 2016. "Tasked With Combating Opium, Afghan Officials Profit From It", The New York Times.

January 10, 2016. "From Under Kabul's Bridges, Addicts Get Help at Old U.S. Base", The New York Times. Camp Phoenix is now a drug rehab center.

November 13, 2015. "Day at Office for Afghan Drug Prosecutor: Paperwork, and Death Threats". The New York Times. The prosecutor works in Kabul in an office at the Counter Narcotics Justice Center.

October 27, 2015. "The State Department Still Without New Plan to Fight Drugs in Afghanistan", U.S. News & World Report. Successfully combating opium could be a key to victory but right now the U.S. is without a strategy.

July 20, 2015. "The Drug War Failed in Afghanistan Too", by Abigail Hall in U.S. News & World Report. Hall contends that the anti-drug war was counterproductive based on economic factors and that the drug war attempts to eradicate opium merely helped the Taliban.

June 23, 2015. "First-ever comprehensive online system to counter narcotics launches in Afghanistan". UN News Centre. The Ministry of Counternarcotics has established an interactive online system for all counternarcotics-related data in the country. The online tool is called the Afghanistan Drug Reporting System or ADRS.

February 20, 2015. "Afghanistan: The making of a narco state". Rolling Stone Magazine. The nacrotrafficking industry grows by leaps and bounds every year; we have lost the war on drugs in Afghanistan.

February 12, 2015. "The Narco-State of Afghanistan", The Diplomat. Najibullah Gulabozoi writes on the nexus between drug trafficking in Afghanistan and national security.

February 11, 2015. "Afghan Taliban now smuggle drugs and gems like mafia: U.N. report". Reuters. A recent report to the United Nations security council states that the Taliban Islamist movement in increasingly financed by criminal enterprises including heroin laboratories - thus making a negotiated peace harder to achieve.

February 8, 2015. "Afghan's addiction to opium ravages adults, infants". USA Today. The problem of opium use by Afghans persists despite the U.S. expenditure of over $7 billion to fight the drug trade in Afghanistan. The $4 billion drug trade in Afghanistan supports opium farmers, district government officials, warlords, drug traffickers, and warlords.

January 10, 2015. "Drug abuse proliferates, ravages Afghanistan". Trib Live.

December 2, 2014. "A Solution for Afghanistan's Opium". The Diplomat. Sohrab Rahmaty believes that Afghanistan's opium can be sold legally to support the worldwide medical opiate needs; thereby decreasing the illegal growing of opium.

December 2, 2014. "Documenting Drug Addiction in Kabul". Time.com.

November 12, 2014. "Afghan Opium Cultivation Rises to Record Levels". The New York Times.

November 12, 2014. "Afghanistan Opium Production Soars". Voice of America.

November 12, 2014. "Afghan Elections Cited as Factor in Record Levels of Opium Production". The New York Times.

October 28, 2014. "Down the Afghan opium rathole". Chicago Sun-Times.

October 26, 2014. "Afghanistan's Unending Addiction". The New York Times.

October 24, 2014. "How Afghanistan Can Kick Its Drug Habit". South Asia Channel Foreign Policy.

May 12, 2014. "Illegal poppies still dominate Afghan agriculture". Bush Telegraph.

May 1, 2014. "Opium Production in Afghanistan Thrives as U.S. Draws Down". The Huffington Post.

March 12, 2014. "The Afghan Drug War after 2014". Foreign Policy in Focus.

March 6, 2014. "Afghan opium cultivation troubling, report finds". UPI.

March 4, 2014. "To Stem the Violence, Rethink Global Drug Laws". The New York Times.

February 6, 2014. "Afghanistan Counternarcotics Efforts Continue, Official Says". American Forces Press Service. A defense official testifies before Congress outlining achievements and goals of U.S. counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan.

February 3, 2014. "U.S. has 'failed' narcotics fight in Afghanistan, says inspector general". CNN.

January 15, 2014. "IG for Afghanistan paints grim picture of possible narco-criminal state". Stars and Stripes.

January 5, 2014. "Drug trade could splinter Afghanistan into fragmented criminal state - UN", The Guardian.

December 30, 2013. "Afghanistan's opium crop sets new records". Stars and Stripes. Afghanistan is now the number one exporter of opium and opium poppy cultivation surged to record heights in 2013.

November 9, 2013. "Afghan opium-poppy market blooms as U.S. forces leave". The Seattle Times. This article details the past efforts to control the poppy business in Afghanistan and cites reasons why those efforts failed.

October 1, 2013. "The War for Drugs -- Afghanistan 12 Years Later". The Blog.

September 15, 2013. "Grading the drug war in Afghanistan one decade after: F". Open Democracy.

May 9, 2013. "U.S. Kicks Drug-War Habit, Makes Peace with Afghan Poppies". Danger Room on Wired.com.