Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Doris Buddenberg

An Afghan tool to harvest opium 'latex'. Photo: (c) Andrew Weir.

On the Cultural History of Opium – and how poppy came to Afghanistan

Doris Buddenberg

Mention drugs or Google the word ‘opium’ and the link to Afghanistan will never be far away. No wonder, since over the last few decades, Afghanistan has become the largest opium producer in the world. But where did opium come from, how did it spread and what are its cultural expressions? AAN co-director Thomas Ruttig […]

Context and Culture Read more

Afghanistan’s Fluctuating Poppy Production: More Than a Poverty Problem

Doris Buddenberg

Afghanistan’s area of poppy cultivation has increased by 7 per cent compared to the last year and more provinces cultivate poppy than then. This is the gist of annual opium survey for the country for 2012. There are no predictions about how many (thousands of) tons this will be. And the publishers – the UN […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more