Counternarcotics efforts and Afghan poppy farmers

Afghanistan’s opium trade provides funding for insurgents, corrupt government officials, regional warlords, and criminal elements; it also undermines political stability. Despite efforts to stem the trade, poppy cultivation has not only persisted but expanded: in 2009, Afghanistan’s poppies produced approximately 95 percent of the world’s opium, and the total export value of opium and its refined products—that is, morphine and heroin—was estimated to be US$2.8 billion (UNODC and GOA 2009). ¹