It might also be instructive to get annual crop tonnage for years BEFORE the Taliban came to power, as they were responsible for the end of the bumper poppy crops.
The dirty little secret is that as repressive as the taliban was and is, it had nearly succeeded in completely eradicating the poppy fields in Afghanistan prior to 2001.
Once Nato and the UN took over in Afghanistan, the poppy cultivation grew exponentially, and about three years ago, the taliban reversed their edict against poppy growing and now utilizes the drug trade to finance its own operations.
I have said from the git-go that Afghanistan was to protect the drugs after we routed the taliban early on. Karzai was our tool from the beginning. He who controls the spice, controls the universe. The spice must flow. There was no real interest in stopping the opium trade until the taliban began using it themselves.
The only reason the poppy yield is slightly down from last year has been bad weather. Nothing more.