Afghanistan opium cultivation was all-time high in 2017 despite US efforts: report

WASHINGTON: The United States (US) government’s Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, in its latest report, has revealed that Afghanistan recorded more poppy cultivation in 2017, despite US counter-narcotics efforts in the country.

According to the report, the opium production and total area under opium cultivation in Afghanistan have reached an all-time, up 87% and 63% respectively from the previous year.

“The total area under opium cultivation in Afghanistan approaches the area of Rhode Island [a state in US’s New England region],” the report stated.

The report asserts that Americans have less information about the ongoing intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan.

In its January report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John F. Sopko, wrote that the US Department of Defense instructed SIGAR to hold back data on the number of districts controlled or influenced by the Afghan government or insurgents, as well as the number of contested districts.

It says the changes reflect US President Donald Trump’s preference for secrecy over transparency and serve to mask a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

The report dubbed the development ‘troubling’ as Pentagon instructed the body not to release information marked ‘unclassified’ to the public.

The unclassified information is mainly comprises details of Taliban controlled districts in Afghanistan, the report revealed.

The SIGAR report noted that the number of districts controlled or influenced by the Afghan government has been falling since its initial inclusion in the quarterly reports in January 2016.

SIGAR’s October 2017 quarterly report stated that in population terms, according to U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), 63.7 percent of Afghanistan’s population lived in areas controlled or influenced by the government, with an additional 24.9 percent living in contested areas; 11.4 percent of the population, then, was living as of August 2017 in areas controlled or contested by insurgents.

In terms of districts, in the October 2017 report SIGAR said the Afghan government controlled or influenced 56.8 percent of Afghanistan’s 407 districts and the insurgents controlled or influenced 13.3 percent of districts.

The Pentagon now says the coalition controls 56 percent of Afghanistan’s districts and the insurgents control 14 percent, both numbers continue the trend of declining control.

Here are other key points of the SIGAR report: 

• Despite Afghanistan’s large and well-documented resources, mining revenues in 2016 supplied only 0.3% of the country’s $6.5 billion national budget. Among other obstacles, plans to develop the country’s mineral resources have been stymied by insecurity, corruption, weak governance, and a lack of infrastructure.
• There has been a significant uptick in U.S. air strikes and special operations, with the U.S. dropping 653 munitions in October 2017. While this is a record high since 2012 and a more than three-fold increase from October 2016, these actions have yet to increase the Afghan government’s control over its population.
• In its annual survey, the Asia Foundation found that only half of the Afghan respondents (52.3%) believed that reconciliation with the Taliban is possible. Additionally, approximately 15.7% of respondents expressed either “a lot” or “a little” sympathy for the Taliban.
• RS reported 4,474 civilian casualties from June 1 to November 27, 2017-a 13% increase compared to the same period last year.
• According to NAI, an organization supporting open media in Afghanistan, of 167 incidents of violence against journalists in 2017, the Afghan government was involved in 37%, whereas insurgents were involved in 40%.
• From January 1 through November 26, 2017, 11 U.S. military personnel were killed in Afghanistan, and 99 were wounded. This is double the personnel killed in action compared to the same periods in 2015 and 2016.
• According to DOD, airstrikes destroying 25 drug labs in November in December equated to nearly $80 million of drug money eliminated and $16 million of direct revenue being denied to the Taliban. Based on DOD’s valuation, SIGAR questions the accuracy of these figures.