WASHINGTON: The United States (US) government’s Special Inspector Generalfor Afghanistan Reconstruction, in its latest report, has revealed thatAfghanistan recorded more poppy cultivation in 2017, despite UScounter-narcotics efforts in the country.

According to the report, the opium production and total area under opiumcultivation in Afghanistan have reached an all-time, up 87% and 63%respectively from the previous year.

“The total area under opium cultivation in Afghanistan approaches the areaof Rhode Island [a state in US’s New England region],” the report stated.

The report asserts that Americans have less information about the ongoingintensifying insurgency in Afghanistan.

In its January report, the Special Inspector General for AfghanistanReconstruction (SIGAR), John F. Sopko, wrote that the US Department ofDefense instructed SIGAR to hold back data on the number of districtscontrolled or influenced by the Afghan government or insurgents, as well asthe number of contested districts.

It says the changes reflect US President Donald Trump’s preference forsecrecy over transparency and serve to mask a deteriorating situation inAfghanistan.

The report dubbed the development ‘troubling’ as Pentagon instructed thebody not to release information marked ‘unclassified’ to the public.

The unclassified information is mainly comprises details of Talibancontrolled districts in Afghanistan, the report revealed.

The SIGAR report noted that the number of districts controlled orinfluenced by the Afghan government has been falling since its initialinclusion in the quarterly reports in January 2016.

SIGAR’s October 2017 quarterly report stated that in population terms,according to U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), 63.7 percent ofAfghanistan’s population lived in areas controlled or influenced by thegovernment, with an additional 24.9 percent living in contested areas; 11.4percent of the population, then, was living as of August 2017 in areascontrolled or contested by insurgents.

In terms of districts, in the October 2017 report SIGAR said the Afghangovernment controlled or influenced 56.8 percent of Afghanistan’s 407districts and the insurgents controlled or influenced 13.3 percent ofdistricts.

The Pentagon now says the coalition controls 56 percent of Afghanistan’sdistricts and the insurgents control 14 percent, both numbers continue thetrend of declining control.

Here are other key points of the SIGAR report:

– Despite Afghanistan’s large and well-documented resources, mining revenues in 2016 supplied only 0.3% of the country’s $6.5 billion national budget. Among other obstacles, plans to develop the country’s mineral resources have been stymied by insecurity, corruption, weak governance, and a lack of infrastructure. – There has been a significant uptick in U.S. air strikes and special operations, with the U.S. dropping 653 munitions in October 2017. While this is a record high since 2012 and a more than three-fold increase from October 2016, these actions have yet to increase the Afghan government’s control over its population. – In its annual survey, the Asia Foundation found that only half of the Afghan respondents (52.3%) believed that reconciliation with the Taliban is possible. Additionally, approximately 15.7% of respondents expressed either “a lot” or “a little” sympathy for the Taliban. – RS reported 4,474 civilian casualties from June 1 to November 27, 2017-a 13% increase compared to the same period last year. – According to NAI, an organization supporting open media in Afghanistan, of 167 incidents of violence against journalists in 2017, the Afghan government was involved in 37%, whereas insurgents were involved in 40%. – From January 1 through November 26, 2017, 11 U.S. military personnel were killed in Afghanistan, and 99 were wounded. This is double the personnel killed in action compared to the same periods in 2015 and 2016. – According to DOD, airstrikes destroying 25 drug labs in November in December equated to nearly $80 million of drug money eliminated and $16 million of direct revenue being denied to the Taliban. Based on DOD’s valuation, SIGAR questions the accuracy of these figures. –