Published on, Sept. 23 -- September 23, 2025 2:51 AM

The ongoing campaign to eradicate poppy cultivation in Balochistan deserves recognition. Fields have been destroyed and drug dens dismantled, and with promises of alternate livelihoods for locals, the state, for once, appears to be moving beyond slogans. In a country where official neglect has long allowed narcotics to spread unchecked, such operations send an important signal that the threat is finally being taken seriously.

Yet one campaign, however welcome, cannot obscure the depth of the crisis. Afghanistan's poppy ban drove cultivation down by 95 per cent in 2023, only for fields to begin sprouting again in 2024. Output climbed to 433 tonnes, while farm-gate prices soared past 70...