FAIZABAD: Clashes that erupted when Afghan security forces sought to destroy opium poppy fields in the country's northeast have killed two people, police and local residents said on Saturday.

The interim Taliban government banned the cultivation of poppy, used to manufacture drugs such as heroin, a year after returning to power in 2021. Authorities have since launched multiple operations to destroy illegal fields.

In an operation on Friday in Atanjalaw in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, "farmers and residents, with the cooperation of the drug smugglers, wanted to spoil this plan and resist the destruction", provincial police spokesman Ehsanullah Kamgar told AFP.

A teenager aged 13 or 14 "unfortunately... lost his life", he said.

Kamgar accused "malicious people and mafia gangs" of fomenting unrest, and said one man was killed in another violent clash on Saturday.
A main highway to the provincial capital Faizabad was blocked for two hours on Saturday because of the unrest.

However, "with the mediation of the religious leaders... and efforts by officials", the situation has returned to normal, Kamgar said.

One Atanjalaw resident, requesting anonymity for security reasons, told AFP on Friday that the Taliban forces had "mistreated people, humiliated and insulted them".

Some residents "rushed towards them, and then the Taliban forces opened fire on them", the resident added, saying a 15-year-old was killed and two others seriously wounded.

Another resident, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said residents had "attacked the Taliban in self-defense" after being fired upon.

The area dedicated to poppy farming in Afghanistan dropped to 10,200 hectares in 2025, one of the lowest figures recorded, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The UN has repeatedly called on the international community to help Afghan farmers transition away from opium to other crops and livelihoods, a request also made by the Afghan Taliban authorities.

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Clashes over poppy field destruction kill two in Afghanistan

Clashes over poppy field destruction kill two in Afghanistan