KABUL: Opium cultivation in Afghanistan dropped by 20 per cent in 2025, the United Nations said on Thursday, while warning of a simultaneous surge in synthetic drug production and trafficking.
The Taliban authorities banned opium poppy cultivation nationwide in 2022, the year after they returned to power in Kabul.
The area dedicated to poppy farming fell from 12,800 hectares (around 31,600 acres) in 2024 to 10,200 hectares in 2025, a new report released by the United Natio
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