Subcommittee on the Middle East and Nort

U.S. Counternarcotics Operations in Afghanistan Subcommittee on the Middle East and Nort

Since Fiscal Year 2002, the U. S. has appropriated almost $7.5 billion for counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan. This amounts to about 7 percent of the $102 billion the U. S. has appropriated for relief and reconstruction in Afghanistan over that period of time. Despite all of this money being spent, 2013 was a record-breaking year in terms of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. Afghanistan produced over 80 percent of the world's opium last year, and the illegal drug trade is a contributing factor to many of the major challenges facing Afghanistan and the U. S. The drug trade helps to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Taliban and other extremist groups every year. It creates an increase in corruption, and it creates a very serious public health challenge in Afghanistan as more and more Afghans get addicted to the readily available drugs.