00:03After the Taliban took power in 2021, they issued a decree in 2022 banning all forms of production, trafficking and
00:13consumption of drugs.
00:15And they enforced a very strict eradication policy of all poppy cultivation, meaning that for three years, poppy cultivation has
00:25dropped to 95 percent, which was a historical record for 2023, 24, 25.
00:32But now what we see this year in 2026 is that there is a resumption with a fourfold increase of
00:40cultivation compared to last year.
00:42It's still very low, 82 percent lower than before the ban, but there is a reversal of the trend.
00:50First of all, the stockpiles that were accumulated before the ban depleted in 2025, 2026, meaning that there may be
00:59a push from traffickers for poppy cultivation resumptions.
01:03That's cause number one.
01:05Cause number two is the situation of the poppy farmers themselves for lack of alternative livelihoods.
01:11And there, there is a multiplication of factors.
01:17Poppy eradication means for them that it is an eradication of up to half of their income for those who
01:25used to rely on poppy cultivation income.
01:28But then you add the mass return with a 10 percent demographic increase from neighboring countries, meaning that it also
01:36deprives these populations from remittances they used to rely on.
01:39It also means that they have more people to feed in their own communities for those rural communities that have
01:47to host returnees.
01:48Thank you very much.
01:49Thank you very much.
01:49Thank you very much.
01:49Thank you very much.
01:49Thank you very much.
01:50Thank you very much.
01:50Thank you very much.
01:50Thank you very much.
01:50Grazie a tutti.
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