Opium Trade

Peshawar, Pakistan, 1992 Merchants in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan trade freely in Opium, drugs and arms. Most of Afghans Opium is refined here in the tribal area into heroin for export. Afghanistan remains today the largest producer of raw opium in the world. Thousands of tons are harvested in the remote northern mountains and southern plains. Opium is the raw material to produce heroin, one of the most deadly drugs. Afghan farmers though claim, that no other crop allows them to survive in the harsh environment of the Hindokush mountains, due to a lack of irrigation and fertilizer. Opium grows best in dry high altitude soil.