Putting two entirely different items together, on the one hand, we see from The Independent that the price of Kalashnikovs has doubled in Afghanistan and weapons are now fetching $600 apiece.
On the other, according to the latest UN report, wholesale (farm gate) prices in Afghanistan have fallen by a third in the past year: from $70/kg to $48/kg for fresh opium; from $95/kg to $64/kg for the dry variety while, in 2009, opium cultivation in Afghanistan decreased by 22 percent, from 157,000 hectares (ha) in 2008 to 123,000 ha today.
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