Afghanistan opium winter assessment

The Opium Winter Assessment released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows a likely reduction in the amount of opium grown in Afghanistan in 2009. The 18 provinces that were opium-free in 2008 are projected to remain so in 2009, and 7 others are likely to reduce cultivation - even in the biggest opium producing province of Hilmand. This will deepen the trend of the past few years that showed opium cultivation overwhelmingly concentrated in the 7 most unstable provinces in the south and south-west.