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Counternarcotics and Law Enforcement Country Program: Afghanistan

Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

Fact Sheet

January 20, 2009

The Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) works with the Government of Afghanistan (GOA) and the international community to achieve sustainable reductions in poppy cultivation and narcotics trafficking, increase law enforcement capabilities, and reform the Afghan criminal justice system to strengthen public security and the rule of law.

INL supports the Government of Afghanistan in pursuing a coordinated “Five Pillar” strategy, encompassing eradication, alternative livelihoods, interdiction/law enforcement, justice reform, and public information. INL also provides assistance to the GOA in the areas of police training, women’s programs, and demand-reduction and treatment programs.

2008 Assessment

The Government of Afghanistan is making gains in its fight against poppy. Afghanistan saw positive progress in 2008: Poppy cultivation fell by 19 percent; the number of households involved in the opium trade fell by 28 percent; and the number of poppy-free provinces rose to 18 out of 34 (up from 13 in 2007), according to the United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC). These figures indicate that INL’s comprehensive, province-based strategy can deliver results, given adequate security and political will.

However, we recognize that much work still needs to be done. Afghanistan is still producing over 90 percent of the world’s opium, with cultivation overwhelmingly concentrated in the insecure South, where the Taliban and the insurgency dominate. Future success will hinge on the Afghan, U.S. and international community’s continued involvement to maintain security, deliver on development promises, and meet good governance goals. Without this commitment, the drug trade will continue to fuel the insurgency, undermine political and economic development, and corrode the foundation of civil society in Afghanistan.

Progress Made

• Coordination between GOA ministries has improved dramatically;
  
  
• More than 97,000 Afghan National Police officers been trained at INL facilities since 2003, and the 78,000-strong police force is nearing its mandated level of 82,000;
  
  
• Over 2,000 Afghan Corrections officers have been trained, and over 1,000 Afghan justice personnel have received specialized training through INL programs;
  
  
• Over 300 Afghan police women have been trained through joint INL/DOD efforts, and over 110 women working in the justice sector have participated in justice-related training programs and conferences;
  
  
• The first women’s residential treatment center in Afghanistan opened in 2007 with INL support, and a second center opened in 2008;
  
  
• Twenty-seven mosque-based outreach/aftercare treatment centers have been established with INL support.

Positive Economic Indicators

• GDP per capita increased by 34 percent;
  
  
• Total farm gate value of opium production fell by 27 percent; average farm gate prices fell by about 20 percent;
  
  
• Indicative gross income from opium per ha fell by 10 percent; while indicative gross income from wheat per ha rose by almost 200 percent.

Continuing Challenges

• Afghanistan is still the largest supplier of the world’s poppy;
  
  
• Seven provinces in the insecure South cultivate 98 percent of the country’s poppy;
  
  
• Bifurcation between poppy-free, relatively safe North and the insurgency-dominated South is increasing;
  
  
• Eradication-related deaths, most of them Afghan counternarcotics police officers, have more than quadrupled.