Government of Afghanistan Ministry of Counter Narcotics Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43 1) 26060-0, Fax: (+43 1) 26060-5866, www.unodc.org Afghanistan Poppy Eradication Verification August 2007 Final Report AEF: Afghan Eradication Force GLE: Governor-led Eradication Force ICMP: Illicit Crop Monitoring Programme MCN: Ministry of Counter-Narcotics RAS: Rapid Assessment Survey UNODC: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Contributors Mohammad Ibrahim Azhar (Director, Survey and Monitoring Section), MCN Mir Abdullah (Deputy Director, Survey and Monitoring Section), MCN Hakan Demirbüken (Regional Monitoring Expert, RAS/ICMP), UNODC, Tashkent Shirish Ravan (International Project Coordinator, RAS/ICMP), UNODC, Kabul Nazir Ahmad Shah Wardak (National Project Coordinator), UNODC, Kabul Ziauddin Zaki (Data Analyst), UNODC, Kabul Abdul Mannan Ahmadzai (Survey Assistant), UNODC, Kabul Ziaulhaq Sidiqi (Verification Reporter), UNODC, Kabul Ramin Sobhi (Verification Reporter), UNODC, Kabul Adbul Basir Basirat (Survey Coordinator), UNODC, Eastern Region Rahimullah Omar (Survey Coordinator), UNODC, Central Region Abdul Qadir Palwal (Survey Coordinator), UNODC, Western Region Fawad Alaei (Survey Coordinator), UNODC, Western Region Abdul Jalil Hussein Khel (Survey Coordinator), UNODC, Northern Region Rafi Akbari (Survey Coordinator), UNODC, North-East Region Fazal Mohammad Fazli (Provincial Coordinator), UNODC, Southern Region Mohammad Alem Ghaleb (Provincial Coordinator), UNODC, Eastern Region Mohammad Hussein Joya (Provincial Coordinator), UNODC, Western Region Lutf Rahmad Lutfi (Provincial Coordinator), UNODC, Northern Region Mohammad Alem Yaqubi (Provincial Coordinator), UNODC, North-East Region MCN survey coordinators and eradication verifiers Afghanistan: Verified Governor-led Eradication in 2007 UZBEKIISTAN TAJIIKIISTAN Fayz Abad TURKMENIISTAN Jawzjan Mazar-E-Sharif Takhar Badakhshan Kunduz Balkh Samangan Sari Pul Baghlan Faryab Panjshir Nuristan Badghis Laghman Bamyan Kapisa Parwan Kunar Wardak Kabul Legend Jalalabad Ghor Nangarhar PeshwarEradication (ha) Hirat Logar Day Kundi No eradication IINDIIA Ghazni Paktya Khost <50 Uruzgan 51-250 Farah Paktika Zabul 251-1000 1001-2000 >2000 PAKIISTAN Main cities Province bounaries IIRAN Kandahar Hilmand International Boundaries Nimroz Quetta 0 50 100 Kilometers Geographic Projection Datum: WGS 84 So urce: Government of Afghanistan - National mon itoring system imp lem ented by U NODC Note: The bo undaries an d names show n and th e desig nations used on th is map do not imply official endo rsement or acceptan ce b y th e United N ations. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • Opium poppy eradication was carried out in 26 provinces (see Table 1). • In 2007, total effective eradication (including governor-led and AEF-led eradication) reached 19,047 hectares, while the overall eradication total (including eradication carried out after first lancing) was 20,736 ha. The details of eradication are as follows: o UNODC and MCN verifiers visited 2,109 villages (24,864 poppy fields) in 26 provinces where eradication had been carried out by governor-led eradication teams, whereas in 2006 surveyors visited some 1,400 villages in 19 provinces. o UNODC and MCN jointly verified a total of 17,587 ha of governor-led poppy eradication, including 1,689 hectares that were eradicated after first lancing. In view of the definition in the National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) of “effective eradication”, it has been agreed that eradication after first lancing should not be taken into consideration. Effective governor-led eradication therefore amounts to 15,898 hectares (see Table 2 and Annex I). Details of eradication verified during the lancing stage in 2007 are provided in Annex V. o AEF initially claimed that 7,573 hectares had been eradicated in Hilmand province, basing that claim on reports from verifiers on the ground. However, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the United States Department of State verified by satellite that the actual figure was 3,000 ha. o AEF subsequently revised its figure for total eradication to 3,149 hectares, including 3,000 ha in Hilmand province, 83.44 ha in Uruzgan province and 65.22 ha in Takhar province. UNODC does not verify AEF-led eradication (see Annex III). o The final figure for governor-led eradication (effective eradication) shows a decrease of 1,137 ha as compared to the figure reported in periodic report No. 24 (June 2007). The figures given in the periodic reports were based on daily reports by verifiers on the ground. The revised figure was calculated on the basis of data generated by detailed survey forms submitted by verifiers. These survey forms include a sketch of each of the poppy fields where eradication took place, and indicate the percentage of crops eradicated in each field. The final eradication figure is therefore lower than the provisional figures given in the periodic reports. • Effective eradication in 2007 increased by 24 per cent as compared to total eradication in 2006 (15,300 hectares (ha)) and by 281 per cent as compared to total eradication in 2005 (5,000 ha). • Eradication has not contributed to an effective reduction in cultivation in most of the provinces. • In Badakhshan, eradication was carried out at an early stage, thus allowing farmers to cultivate alternative crops. This, together with a relatively successful pre-planting campaign, contributed to an overall decline in poppy cultivation. • On average, 63 per cent of cultivated poppy was left standing after eradication teams had carried out their activities in the 2,109 villages visited by verifiers in 2007, although there was considerable regional variation. • Incidents of resistance to eradication resulted in deaths of 15 policemen and 4 farmers and several injuries. Several tractors used in eradication activities were burned by insurgents (Annex IV). 2 Introduction The Ministry of Counter-Narcotics (MCN) of the Government of Afghanistan and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) jointly verified governor-led poppy eradication campaigns in 26 provinces across Afghanistan in 2007. Initially, 71 verifiers were employed to carry out the verification survey (Table 3). This number was increased to 107 verifiers by April 2007. Thus, a total of 107 eradication verifiers and fifteen survey coordinators (UNODC and MCN) have been trained and deployed since 1 January 2007. The eradication verifiers were assigned to eradication teams led by governors of provinces. This report details the results of the verification survey reported in 24 periodic (weekly) reports issued between 17 December 2006 and 24 June 2007. There will be no further weekly reports. The final findings of the 2007 Eradication Verification Survey will be presented in the 2007 Annual Opium Poppy Survey Report. Results Eradication in 2007 Details of the final results of the eradication verification survey for 2007 are given below: Table 1: Governor-led eradication figures (by province) Province Eradication (ha) Eradication Effective No. of fields No. of villages Total ha of % of opium verified (ha) verified eradication where where poppy remaining poppy (includes after first verified (ha) eradication eradication after eradication eradication in eradication lancing (eradication upto reported reported in surveyed surveyed during lancing first lancing) villages villages stage) Badakhshan 1311 1311 2475 273 517 72 Badghis 232 232 1322 34 3491 6 Baghlan 185 185 273 33 17 92 Balkh 14 14 25 3 11 56 Day Kundi 5 5 102 5 13 29 Farah 143 143 301 36 1626 8 Faryab 337 337 1456 110 85 80 Ghor 188 188 242 37 530 26 Hilmand 1945 943 1003 648 93 3706 34 Hirat 70 70 259 65 270 21 Jawzjan 122 122 209 17 0 100 Kabul 14 14 53 5 8 64 Kandahar 7905 7905 3028 425 4951 61 Kapisa 10 10 398 34 45 18 Khost 18 2 16 171 12 0 100 Kunar 55 28 27 442 33 9 85 Kunduz 5 5 17 2 0 100 Laghman 802 802 2497 100 111 88 Nangarhar 3048 709 2339 8002 548 13775 18 Nimroz 35 35 87 16 125 22 Nuristan 0.44 0.44 8 2 13 3 Parwan 4 3 1 144 4 0 100 Sari Pul 119 5 114 233 41 25 83 Takhar 716 716 2249 140 268 73 Uruzgan 121 121 156 18 445 21 Zabul 183 183 67 23 61 75 Total 17587 1689 15898 24864 2109 30103 37 In 2007, total effective eradication (including governor-led and AEF-led eradication) reached 19,047 hectares, while the overall eradication total (including eradication carried out after first lancing) was 20,736 ha. The details of eradication are as follows: UNODC and MCN verifiers visited 2,109 villages (24,864 poppy fields) in 26 provinces where eradication had been carried out by governor-led eradication teams, whereas in 2006 surveyors visited some 1,400 villages in 19 provinces. 3 UNODC and MCN jointly verified a total of 17,587 ha of governor-led poppy eradication, including 1,689 hectares that were eradicated after first lancing. In accordance with the definition in the National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) of “effective eradication”, it has been agreed that eradication after first lancing should not be taken into consideration. Effective governor-led eradication therefore amounts to 15,898 hectares (see Table 2 and Annex I). Details of eradication verified during the lancing stage in 2007 are provided in Annex V. AEF initially claimed that 7,573 hectares had been eradicated in Hilmand province, basing that claim on reports from verifiers on the ground. However, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the United States Department of State verified by satellite that the actual figure was 3,000 ha. AEF subsequently revised its figure for total eradication to 3,149 hectares, including 3,000 ha in Hilmand province, 83.44 ha in Uruzgan province and 65.22 ha in Takhar province. UNODC does not verify AEF-led eradication (see Annex III). Figure 1 shows the percentage of crops eradicated (governor-led and AEF-led eradication). Governor-led eradication was most effective in Kandahar province (36 per cent), followed by Nangarhar (15 per cent), Hilmand (14 per cent) and Badakhshan (six per cent).