Satellite Images Map Poppy Fields Across Afghan Border Provinces

Satellite analysis has identified more than 9,000 hectares of poppy cultivation in Pakistan's Balochistan province, most of it in the districts of Loralai and Killa Abdullah. The assessment was produced by Alcis, a British firm, and David Mansfield, an expert on Afghanistan's illicit drug trade who wrote an August report for the company.

Mansfield said the Taliban's narcotics ban, imposed in 2022, together with instability across the tri-border region, created conditions for widespread poppy cultivation in Balochistan and parts of Iran. He described the remote borderlands of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran as a global center for opium production.

Afghanistan's opium output fell sharply after the Taliban ban, but cultivation did not stop. Farmers from Kandahar and Helmand have crossed into Pakistan to lease land. Lala Jan Kakar, a resident of Killa Abdullah, said these growers invest millions of Pakistani rupees in solar-powered wells and share profits with landowners. Poppies can be harvested twice a year, and many farmers doubled their cultivated area in 2026.

Abdul Qahar Wadan, a former National Assembly member from Killa Abdullah, said cultivation is backed by senior military officials and pro-government power brokers who take commissions from growers. Monawar Hussain, the district's chief administrative officer, said cultivation declined after an eradication campaign last year. Alcis imagery from 2026 shows no clear evidence of that eradication.

One farmer in Killa Abdullah, speaking anonymously, said growers pay bribes to local authorities through intermediaries. The farmer said that when media coverage draws pressure from above, growers sometimes plant poppies on barren land so officials can destroy the crop and publicize the effort. Kakar said insecurity, drought and flash floods have damaged traditional fruit farming, adding that demand and income from poppies exceed what fruit provides.

Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province remains the main producing region there, though cultivation has been reported in Razavi Khorasan, Kermanshah, Lorestan and Fars. Satellite imagery from 2026 shows extensive poppy fields in Sistan-Baluchistan, some using drip irrigation. Mansfield said Afghan farmers working as tenants and sharecroppers in Iran are increasingly devoting large plots entirely to poppy rather than growing a mix of crops.

Cultivation also continues inside Afghanistan despite the ban. Production is concentrated in Badakhshan Province, estimated at around half of national output, and several southwestern provinces. Mansfield said poppy cultivation remained widespread across Badakhshan's rainfed and irrigated land in 2026, while southwestern cultivation almost doubled between 2025 and 2026, though it stayed limited and was concealed within wheat fields and behind compound walls.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry and the Balochistan provincial government did not respond to requests for comment. Islamabad has denied reports of opium cultivation and insists any poppy crops found have been destroyed. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has estimated that opium production in Pakistan remains marginal, while acknowledging that scarce regional data and rises in eradication figures point toward spillover effects.

Mansfield warned that a Taliban directive barring home searches for poppy or opium without a court order could be read by southwest farmers as a signal that authorities will tolerate cultivation beyond walled compounds. He said that if that reading takes hold, Afghanistan could see a dramatic rise in opium production in 2027. He also noted that armed groups compete for tax revenues from the drug trade and other cross-border activities, including people smuggling and trade in fuel, minerals and other goods.

Iranian authorities have been occupied with the war against the United States and Israel since late February. Experts expect cultivation in Iran to rise further in 2027 as the economy weakens and the province's separatist insurgency grows.