Afghanistan
Afghanistan Opium Survey 2025
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2025 decreased by 20 per cent compared to the previous year, according to a new survey from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The sharp contraction, together with market indicators, suggest that opium production and trafficking are undergoing major shifts in the region. The total area under opium poppy cultivation in 2025 was estimated at 10,200 hectares, 20 per cent lower than in 2024 (12,800 hectares) and a fraction of the pre-ban levels recorded in 2022, when an estimated 232,000 hectares were cultivated nationwide. Accordingly, opium production has also declined in 2025, at a rate even greater than that of cultivation, dropping by 32 per cent compared to 2024, to an estimated total of 296 tons. Farmers’ income from opium sales fell by 48 per cent from US$260 million in 2024 to US$134 million in 2025. After the ban, many farmers shifted to growing cereals and other crops. Worsening weather conditions, such as droughts or low rainfall, however, resulted in over 40 per cent of farmland laying barren. Simultaneously, the return of approximately four million Afghans from neighbouring countries, representing by now around 10 per cent of the country’s population, has intensified competition for scarce jobs and resources. All these factors, paired with the reductions in humanitarian aid can possibly make opium poppy cultivation more attractive.
Afghanistan Drug Insights 2024
The Afghanistan Drug Insights 2024 is a set of three reports that provide latest data and in-depth analysis on aspects of the evolving drug situation in Afghanistan. Opium production in Afghanistan remains low for the second consecutive year, with production at 433 tons in 2024, confirmed new estimates from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Although this figure represents a 30 per cent increase from 2023, production still remains 93 per cent below 2022 levels, when the de facto authorities began enforcing a country-wide drug ban.
Afghanistan Gender Country Profile 2024
The current situation in Afghanistan presents globally unprecedented challenges to delivering targeted interventions on gender equality. Since August 2021, the Taliban has undertaken an intensive and systematic dismantling of Afghanistan’s legal and institutional infrastructure, particularly targeting those who had supported the gender equality and women’s empowerment advances achieved under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021. Significant discrepancies exist between the national and subnational levels, yet data collection on issues relating to gender equality is increasingly difficult, especially following bans on women working for NGOs and the extension of this ban to the United Nations. The “Afghanistan gender country profile 2024”, produced with the support of the European Union, provides a snapshot of the current situation regarding gender equality in Afghanistan, noting the previous legal and institutional frameworks (from the period 1978–2021), and examining the current decrees, policies, and practices shaping the gender equality landscape under Taliban rule. The document then provides a detailed gender analysis and pertinent statistical data to provide an overview of the prevailing situation in-country across key priority thematic areas.
Afghanistan Opium Survey 2023
Cultivation and Production After the Ban - Effects and Implications
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan plunged by an estimated 95 per cent following a drug ban imposed by the de facto authorities in April 2022, according to this new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). UN officials noted that the near-total contraction of the opiate economy is expected to have far-reaching consequences and highlighted the urgent need for enhanced assistance for rural communities, accompanied by alternative development support to build an opium-free future for the people of Afghanistan. Opium cultivation fell across all parts of the country, from 233,000 hectares to just 10,800 hectares in 2023. The decrease has led to a corresponding 95 per cent drop in the supply of opium, from 6,200 tons in 2022 to just 333 tons in 2023.
Understanding Illegal Methamphetamine Manufacture in Afghanistan
The analysis in this report examines the modalities of illegal methamphetamine manufacture in Afghanistan, highlighting risks to the region. The findings presented here contextualize illegal manufacture of methamphetamine with respect to quantify total methamphetamine production, different input materials. The analysis contained in this report does not seek to evaluate or assess the effectiveness of counternarcotics measures in the country, nor does it consider the effects of the April 2022 announcement of enforcement against the production, trafficking, and consumption of all illicit drugs in Afghanistan. The research shows that common cold medications and industrial-grade bulk precursors offer more efficient, reliable and virtually limitless means to support illegal manufacture compared with naturally occurring sources of ephedrine.
Afghanistan: Enabling trade for economic growth and regional cooperation
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Afghanistan that want to become a part of the global trade market are faced with a myriad of problems that render this objective very difficult, if not impossible, in many cases.
No. 51233. United States of America and Afghanistan
Agreement between the Government of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan and the Government of the United States of America regarding the surrender of persons to the International Criminal Court. Washington, 20 September 2002
No. 51453. Afghanistan and Federal Republic of Germany
ECONOMIC AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY AND THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN. BONN, 17 JUNE 1952 [United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2960, I-51453.]
No. 51167. United States of America and Afghanistan
Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (US-AF-01) between the Department of Defense of the United States of America and the Ministry of Defense of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (with annexes). Doha, 22 January 2004, and Kabul, 16 February 2004
No. 51044. United States of America and Afghanistan
Agreement between the United States of America and Afghanistan for the establishment and operation of United States radio transmitting facilities in Afghanistan (with annexes). Washington, 3 October 2002
No. 51044. United States of America and Afghanistan
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND AFGHANISTAN FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF UNITED STATES RADIO TRANSMITTING FACILITIES IN AFGHANISTAN. WASHINGTON, 3 OCTOBER 2002 [United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2935, I-51044.]
No. 51477. Afghanistan and Federal Republic of Germany
Agreement on the Movement of Goods and Payment Transactions between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of the Kingdom of Afghanistan. Kabul, 31 January 1958
Executive Summary
Since 2001, the Government of Afghanistan has placed significant emphasis on institutionalizing reforms aimed at improving the country's overall business and investment climate, improving supplyside competitiveness of key priority sectors (both goods-and services-based) and strengthening regional integration. The private sector is provided a prominent role to participate in policymaking debates affecting business and investment. However, Afghanistan continues to face security challenges that are inhibiting these promising efforts. These conditions that are exerting downward pressures on the economy are evident by the registered decline in the GDP rate (2.4 per cent in 2018 from 2.7 per cent in 2017)1 and is expected to affect job creation as well as further productive growth. As a post-conflict country in reform, the country faces a multitude of important hurdles to overcome.
Conclusion
Afghanistan wishes to expand its position as an economic link between Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, in addition to providing socioeconomic gains to its citizens through trade led growth. This assessment finds that development of Afghanistan's e-commerce ecosystem will be an essential ingredient in this eventual success story.
Preface
The eTrade for all Initiative, launched at the fourteenth Ministerial Conference of UNCTAD in July 2016, is a practical example of how to harness the digital economy in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, notably Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5, 8, 9, and 17. The initiative seeks to raise awareness, enhance synergies, and increase the scale of existing and new efforts by the development community to strengthen the ability of developing countries to engage in and benefit from e-commerce by addressing seven relevant policy areas.