Afghanistan is the world’s largest opium producer. According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2000 Narcotics Control Report, the country accounts for 72% of the world’s illicit opium supply, the majority of which is consumed in Europe. The report contends that both the Taliban and the Northern Alliance (the main rival of the Taliban regime) control territory used by opium farmers and drug traffickers. Per the State Department “neither the Taliban or the Northern Alliance has taken any significant action to seize stored opium, precursor chemicals or arrest and prosecute narcotics traffickers. On the contrary, authorities continue to tax the opium crop at about ten percent, and allow it to be sold in open bazaars, traded and transported.” The State Department notes that the Taliban promotes opium cultivation to finance arms purchases and military operations.

The widely heralded drop in illicit Afghani opium cultivation in recent years, ostensibly in response to the Taliban’s declaration that opium cultivation is unIslamic, is viewed with suspicion by the State Department. The 2000 Narcotics Control Report questions the impact of the recent ban on opium, stating it is not clear that “a ban on poppy cultivation will impede a drug trade suspected by the international community to have large quantities of opium in storage. The announcement of the opium ban has caused opium prices to rise, a boom for traffickers sitting on large stockpiles.” Opium production in the area controlled by the Northern Alliance has continued unabated. Recent media reports indicate that the Taliban intends to resume opium cultivation if the U.S. attacks Afghanistan. The State Department's assessment of drug trafficking was confirmed by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration head Asa Hutchinson in Wednesday's testimony before the House Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources.