Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Tom Riley / Rafael Lemaitre 202–395–6618
Friday, October 25th, 2002

(Washington, DC)—The annual U.S. Government estimate for opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is complete and shows that approximately 30,750 hectares of poppy were cultivated during the crop season in 2002. This compares to 64,510 hectares cultivated during the peak growing year of 2000, and an estimated 1,685 hectares cultivated in 2001, the year the Taliban instituted a poppy ban.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UN ODC) formerly the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UN ODDCP), has also conducted an estimate of Afghanistan poppy cultivation, which is scheduled for release today. The UN estimate uses a different survey methodology, focusing more heavily in defined regions of the country, and supplemented with the reports of ground observers. While UN estimates typically run higher than U.S. Government estimates due to differences in methodology, their data for 2002 likewise show a substantial drop from UN cultivation estimates of 1999–2000.

Due to a difficult security situation on the ground in Afghanistan this last year, both the United Nations and the U.S. Government faced a daunting task in providing crop estimates. It is widely hoped that a more stable environment will facilitate efforts to gather additional data during next year's estimate.

"Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is a serious problem," said John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). "Drug cultivation and trafficking undermine the rule of law and the ability of the Afghan people to rebuild their country and join the international community. It is in the interest of all nations to help the Karzai government combat illicit drug cultivation. We have an unprecedented opportunity in Afghanistan to reduce international opium production, but we must act together, and we must act now."