Islamabad, Oct 29 — While opium cultivation in Afghanistan has not been fully eradicated, its output in the war-torn country has reduced since the Taliban banned illicit narcotics in 2022. Instead, opium production has increased in Pakistan and Iran, a report has detailed.
Balochistan province of Pakistan and Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran, both sharing border with Afghanistan, have witnessed increase in poppy cultivation in recent years, a report in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) detailed citing satellite imagery and interviews with local farmers.
"The Taliban drugs ban, combined with growing instability in the tri-border area, has created the conditions for widespread poppy cultivation in Pakistan's Balochistan Province and parts of Iran," the RFE/RL report quoted David Mansfield, a leading UK-based expert on Afghanistan's illicit drugs industry, as saying. Mansfield said that the remote and volatile areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran have as a result become a "a global centre for opium production."
Experts said that there will be higher levels of poppy cultivation in the region in 2027, which they say could increase the supply of heroin on the international market, generate revenue for armed groups and cause violence.
Balochistan seems to have become the main centre of opium cultivation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan-Iran border region. Pakistani authorities have refuted reports of opium cultivation in the country and contended that any poppy crops found in the country have been eradicated. However, satellite imagery from Alcis, a British firm specialising in satellite analysis, and interviews with local farmers indicate that opium cultivation is widespread in Balochistan and is increasing.
Mansfield, who authored an August report for Alcis, said, "Satellite imagery assessments identified more than 9,000 hectares of poppy cultivation in Balochistan alone. The majority of the opium cultivation seems to be concentrated in Loralai and Killa Abdullah districts of Balochistan.
Iran has also been witnessing poppy cultivation as Afghan farmers have crossed the borders to cultivate poppies as tenants and sharecroppers. In recent years, opium cultivation has been reported in several provinces of Iran, including Razavi Khorasan, Kermanshah and Lorestan. Sistan-Baluchistan is the main centre of opium cultivation in Iran, with satellite imagery from 2026 showing poppy cultivation in several parts of the province.
"Unlike in Afghanistan, where they cultivated a variety of crops, these farmers are increasingly devoting large plots in Pakistan and Iran entirely to poppy," Radio Free Asia Radio Liberty quoted Mansfield as saying. "As the Iran war continues, the economy teeters on the brink of collapse, and the state's attention remains focused elsewhere, poppy cultivation in Iran is expected to increase further in 2027, according to experts," the report stated.