Afghanistan · Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush

Afghani

Also called Afghan, Afghanistan, Afg, Afghani Landrace, Afghani Kush, Afghan Kush

Afghani is the name Western growers gave to the cannabis of Afghanistan, where farmers have long raised it for resin and made it into hashish for local use and trade. In the 1960s and 1970s, travellers on the Hippie Trail met these short, broad-leaved plants and carried seed home. Afghan lines were reportedly folded into early Skunk #1 and Northern Lights breeding in California, the Pacific Northwest and the Netherlands. Afghan authorities banned the trade in 1973, and the Soviet invasion of 1979 effectively closed the tourist era. A 2009 UN survey still found cannabis in 17 of 34 provinces, and some farmers reportedly still replant their own open-pollinated seed.

Region

Afghanistan, grown across many provinces (17 of 34 in the 2009 UN survey); map pin set in the Logar-Kabul area as a representative point

How sure we are

Well documented. Afghan cannabis and its hashish role are documented by UN surveys and academic work; the fates of individual Western seed lines are mostly breeder lore.

Keep in mind

Samples sold as Afghani today are almost always Western seed-bank selections or crosses, not plants from Afghan fields.

Timeline

1. 1960s to 1970s Hippie Trail travellers reached Kabul in large numbers (about 5,000 at a time by the early 1970s, per Lonely Planet's founders) and brought Afghan hashish and seed home. Source
2. From 1969 Breeding of Skunk #1, which drew on an Afghan line, began; Chouvy notes Afghan material among its parents. Source
3. 1973 Afghanistan's monarchy outlawed cannabis and opium poppy production, with eradication backed by US funding; an Erowid hashish-history timeline also dates the ban to 1973. Source
4. 1979 The Soviet invasion is cited as ending the Hippie Trail era of travel through Afghanistan. Source
5. 2009 (published 2010) UNODC's first Afghanistan Cannabis Survey found large-scale cultivation in 17 of 34 provinces and estimated 10,000-24,000 hectares and 1,500-3,500 tonnes of hashish a year. Source

Sources

1. UNODC / UNIS press release: Afghanistan leads in hashish production (31 March 2010)
2. UNODC Afghanistan Cannabis Survey 2009 (hosted by UNAMA)
3. Chouvy (2019), Cannabis cultivation in the world: heritages, trends and challenges, EchoGeo
4. Wikipedia: Cannabis in Afghanistan
5. Erowid: Cannabis and hashish history timeline
6. Cannabis Business Times: The Curse of Kush (Clarke and Richmond, 2020)
7. High Times: The Primary Colors of Cannabis (breeder account; industry lore)
8. Leaf Magazine feature on Hippie Trail travel in Afghanistan
9. VICE: I went on a weed tour of Afghanistan (2018 visit, first-person)

From the same region

Hindu KushMazar-i-Sharif

All landrace strainsThe cannabis timeline

Written from the sources above. Informational only, not medical advice.