Counter-narcotics strategies for Afghanistan’s opiate economy: Are we on track?

01/09/2010

Nearly ten years after the international community’s intervention in Afghanistan and the fall of the Taliban, the question of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is increasingly a priority for all stakeholders, particularly the international community. There has nevertheless been a whole succession of different policies and programmes over the last decade, all aiming to reduce opium poppy cultivation, by eradicating it, law enforcement and criminal justice, or putting in place alternative activities (agricultural, or generally encouraging rural development). What have been the results of these different activities? What lessons can be learnt from them?