A High Record in Afghanistan

The opium harvest in Afghanistan attains the record of 6100 metric tons, which means that 90% of all opium in the world comes from that country.

Is is often said that the farmers need to survive, and they get the best return on opium. A farmer does not, after all, work mainly to get rich himself, but also to feed his wife and children. If he can do so better by cultivating poppy instead of wheat, of course he does so.

However, the story is not really that simple. The talibans at first encouraged poppy cultivation, but then banned it fairly efficiently, and it was only with the Western invasion that the cultivation took off again. Suddenly the farmers lost much of their moral reluctance to cultivate poppy, and criminal enforcement disappeared.

It is true that the Western powers try to get a good relationship with the Afghans and to help them get some order in the country. The problem is not that the Westerners do not try. It is that they fail.