Earnings from opium soar 133% in a year to $1.4bn in Afghanistan. By Daily Mail Reporter Updated: 18:20 GMT, 13 January 2012 Earnings from opium production in Afghanistan soared by 133 per cent last year to about $1.4 billion, or about one-tenth of the country's GDP, according to a United Nations report received Friday.
The U.N. Opium production in Afghanistan. Harvested poppy capsules.
Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation, 1994–2007 (hectares) Background (1979–present)[edit] Soviet period (1979–1989)[edit] As the Afghan government began to lose control of provinces during the Soviet invasion of 1979–80, warlords flourished and with it opium production as regional commanders searched for ways to generate money to purchase weapons, according to the UN.[7] (At this time the US was pursuing an "arms-length" supporting strategy of the Afghan freedom-fighters or Mujahideen, the main purpose being to cripple the USSR slowly into withdrawal through attrition rather than effect a quick and decisive overthrow.) Jundallah.