Sushim Mukul
Kabul's opium throne has shifted east. The Taliban's 2022 ban on poppy farming in Afghanistan has driven cultivation across the border, with neighbouring Pakistan overtaking it as the world's new opium hub. Satellite imagery has revealed sprawling poppy fields in the volatile province of Balochistan, which is home to several armed militant groups like the Islamic State, reported The Telegraph of the UK. This is likely to be a concern for New Delhi, not only because the heroin from it could reach India, but because the narco-money could be used to fund terrorism against it.
This shift could funnel millions into the hands of terrorists and militants, destabilise the region further and is capable of "reshaping security dynamics across the region", said The Telegraph.
The unrestrained poppy cultivation in Pakistan has surged past the historic highs of Afghanistan, which once produced more than 80% of the world's opium. It's through Afghan farmers' expertise, desert irrigation, and their role as share-croppers that Pakistan, which was declared "poppy-free" in 2001, is turning into the world's primary opium hub.
Poppy isn't used just for opium but for semisynthetic narcotics like heroin, which is wrecking havoc across the world.
Reacting to what he called the "bad news from Pakistan", American diplomat and foreign policy expert Zalmay Khalilzad said, "If true, there are many risks: financing terror and violent groups; increased criminalisation of the economy and politics, and increased narcotics addiction of the population".
"It is also a threat to the neighbours and beyond. Does Pakistan have a plan to deal with this menace?," Khalilzad, who was the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation (2018-2021).
The flower of the poppy plant is the source of opium. It is the source behind other deadly drugs like morphine, codeine, heroin, and oxycodone, according to the US DEA.
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