DISINFO: The production of opium in Afghanistan decreased by 95% after the withdrawal of the US
SUMMARY
The production of opium in Afghanistan decreased by 95% after the withdrawal of the United States armed forces. This implies a significant reduction in the supply of narcotics to other countries, including Kazakhstan. What was the United States doing in Afghanistan over the past 20 years?
RESPONSE
This is a mix of several pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the US and other Western intelligence services supporting and using jihadist groups to advance geopolitical goals. No evidence is given to back up the claims made.
Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, according to a report from the United Nations on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released on September 10th 2023. The country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban-run government has prohibited the cultivation, production, sale and use of all intoxicants and narcotics in Afghanistan in April 2022.
“The surge in methamphetamine trafficking in Afghanistan and the region suggests a significant shift in the illicit drug market and demands our immediate attention.” said Ms. Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC.
Methamphetamine trafficking in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries is surging, with a drastic, nearly twelvefold increase in seizures of the drug in five years from 2.5 tons in 2017 to 29.7 tons in 2021.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that the US generated and backed Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Taliban; that the West and the US are ferrying Islamic State members to Afghanistan to use them against China; as part of a so-called “Anaconda ring”; or that NATO is denying the presence of terrorists in the country but the FSB has evidence of it.