UN: Afghanistan Emerging as Regional Hub for Synthetic Drugs

DID Press: UN warned that while opium cultivation in Afghanistan has declined significantly, the country is rapidly becoming a regional center for synthetic drug production, posing potentially more complex risks than the traditional opium trade for both Afghanistan and its neighbors.

According to a recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), opium production in Afghanistan dropped by around 20% in 2025, with cultivated land decreasing from 12,800 to 10,200 hectares. Afghanistan, which for decades was the world’s largest opium producer, has now been overtaken by Myanmar.

Despite Taliban claims of achieving a 99% reduction in poppy cultivation, experts warn that criminal networks are quickly replacing opium with synthetic drugs. Reports indicate that methamphetamine seizures in Afghanistan and neighboring countries increased by more than 50% in 2024.

UN analysts note that while opium requires land, labor, and specific climatic conditions, synthetic drugs can be produced easily in small workshops, making them harder to detect and control.

The Taliban, responding to the report, emphasized that their ban on drug cultivation remains in force and stated that synthetic drug trafficking will also be strictly suppressed.

However, international observers caution that the shift from natural to synthetic drugs could spark a new crisis for Afghanistan and the wider region.