Afghanistan continues to remain the top-producer of opium in the world. The decade long anti-drug campaign of the Afghan government backed by the international community seems to have produced little or no positive outcomes. With the international troops scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of this year and expectation that the country might enter into a new era of uncertainty, environment for poppy cultivators and drug traffickers will become more feasible. That poses serious dangers to the world including Afghanistan itself which has now more than 1.5 million drug addicts, according to some estimation.

The global fight against narcotics has suffered serious setbacks, including record opium cultivation in Afghanistan and a surge of trafficking-linked violence in Central America, the U.N. anti-drugs chief Yury Fedotov said on Thursday at the opening of an international meeting on the issue. Yury Fedotov also expressed concern over expansion of drug trafficking to other regions of the world. "We are strongly concerned about the vulnerability of some regions, notably West Africa and East Africa, to illicit drug trafficking," he said.

Particularly speaking, in case of Afghanistan, hopes of victory against poppy cultivation and drug trafficking is fading away as the country is moving towards a very bleak future. There is no doubt that the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan poses great security and economic risks to the country. Post-2014 era might bring many hardships to the Afghan people including insecurity and further unemployment and poverty. This means that more farmers will have to switch to cultivating opium which will result in more drug production in the country.

The foreign funds (including aids to counter poppy) poured in Afghanistan in the last decade have mostly fallen in the hands corrupt individuals who secure high positions in government and other sectors of the country.  As the international funds are going to diminish, cultivation of poppy is to strike new heights. The reason for why Afghan famers prefer cultivating poppy over other crops is not a secret. Once the crop is ready for harvest, profit will start flowing in. The growers, middlemen, smugglers, retailers except the final consumers of narcotics generate cash from the business and are prospering.

After the withdrawal of US-led forces, the Afghan government must focus on defending the country against the terrorists that have hideouts even in the districts located very close to Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. It is here that attention from counter-narcotics efforts will divert and will be given less priority. Hence, there will more be drug production that will only benefit the insurgents who have using poppy as one of the main sources to fund their activities.