What role does the drug economy play and how should the State best tackle

the drug problem?

How has the drug economy impacted reconstruction?
What are the links between the opium-poppy industry and the rising
insurgency?

DRUG TRAFFICKING FROM AFGHANISTAN TO PAKISTAN AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

Drug trafficking problem has roots in regional geopolitics & cold war rivalries.
Threat to regional security.
Afghanistan produces fine quality opium, which Pakistanis consume.
The drug trade increases pressure on an already-strained relations due to militants
crossing the border.

- Regional approach needs to be adopted, allowing Pakistan and Afghanistan to be

treated as a unified entity to end poppy cultivation.

- Pakistan sees Afghanistan a narco state where the world 90% opium is grown
- Pakistan blames Afghan government for not taking a hard-line on poppy cultivation and
giving it a secondary importance in counter insurgency strategies in post Taliban setup

- Taliban was successful in banning the cultivation of poppy in 2001 before the US
successfully toppled them.

- How?
- US faced massive problems with a rapid increase in poppy cultivation.
- Poppy was made into heroin all over Afghanistan, with senior officials and warlords
taking in bribes & profits through the poppy cultivation.

- Further proves problem with corruption in Afghanistan.

- The drug trade has led to many downfalls in Afghanistan, with some describing it as the
root of all evil.

- Bred militancy, furthered corruption & undermined security in Afghanistan.

-

Created warlord situation in Afghanistan.

Threatens sustainability of Afghan law.
Led to tie between drugs/guns. Harder for Afghanistan to enforce security.
In the late 1980s Afghanistan/Iran/Pakistan replaced Laos/Myanmar/Thailand as the
golden crescent of opium.

- Since Soviets invasion, Afghanistan has not enjoyed a strong centralized government
and stability. It has witnessed wars and drug economy which has penetrated every
section of society by and large. Afghan war lords in order to finance the Soviet- Afghan
war planted the crop in Southern Afghanistan that produced opium paste, which would
be sent to international markets via Pakistan to generate revenge to feed their armies.
The ISI and CIA officials ignored the activities and used the money to sponsor militancy
in Afghanistan so as to achieve their war objectives.
- Dont understand this.

- Afghanistans formal economy was shattered by years of conflict, opium became the
-

primary source of income for local administrations and military.

CIA & ISI didnt care about opium growth as it benefitted the local mujahideen fighting

the Soviets and thats all the US cared about.

After the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, Pakistan utilised a $100m crop swap program,
that turned out to be successful.

- Pakistan was still used as a transportation hub, but ceased to be a producer.

- Taliban banned poppy cultivation in an effort to gain international recognition.
- The factors that drive farmers to grow opium is of immense importance and need to be
highlighted for better understanding of the phenomenon

- Farmers are poor, poverty drives opium growth.

- Poppy seeds generate far more revenue for a farmer than wheat.
- Lack of modern irrigation infrastructure; favorable environmental conditions, assured
-

markets, political instability, absence of law and order situation in the country and
porous border with Pakistan.
Hamid Karzai has not been able to develop modern economy for Afghanistan by
developing any industrial structure or reconstruction opportunity zones

- India had not been able to either.

- Without a modern economy, and while having an agrarian economy - poppy growth
makes sense.

- Opium profits are funding the Taliban.

- In 2009, The Afghan Taliban earned $15 million from opium trade, drug traffickers $2.2
-

billion and Afghan farmers $ 444 million.

Afghan warlords make huge profits from controlling the opium trade who in turn used it
to maintain military power, sustain instability within Afghanistan and sponsoring
terrorists attacks in the neighbouring countries.

- India opening up consulates in small town in order to undermine Pakistan through drug
reliance?

- Karzai has failed to stop or slow production.

- Afghan government and CIA resisted from destroying the crop and seriously initiating
the measures to curb the trade which is the main source of Afghan people livelihood, out
of the fear that they will lose the support of local population making them pro Taliban

- Drug routes through FATA.

- Drug money used to sponsor militarism - straining AfPak relations.
- A multi-pronged comprehensive strategy including diplomatic manoeuvres, intelligent
intelligence and treating Pakistan and Afghanistan as a single entity will play a crucial
role in defeating drug trade.
Afghanistan: The Making of a Narco State - Rolling Stone

-Helmand: Expectancy like that of a whaling town when the big ships roll in.
-April is harvest season. Taliban, police and the like put down their arms for the season.
- Opium harvest season
- 224,000 hectares under cultivation
- 6,400 tonnes of opium. 90% of the worlds supply.
-The drug is entwined with the highest levels of the Afghan government and the economy in
a way that makes the cocaine business in Escobar-era Colombia look like a sideshow

-Opium industry accounts for 15% of Afghanistans economy, a figure set to rise after the
West leaves.
- Compare that to Colombia in the late 1980s, which stood at 6%.

-How has this spike occurred during the US occupation?

-Helmand a state where many police officers and state officials are involved in the drug
trade.
- Accounts for almost half of Afghanistans opium production

-Students in these areas quit school for the harvest.

- Average Afghanis are cultivating these crops.
-Locals believe that the rise of opium is correlated with the exit of the American troops.
-Marjah was built up by USAID in 1946 as a response to Soviet influence.
-Marjah became less reliant on opium with the arrival of US marines due to their free
spending and influence on the Afghan economy.

-"There are more than a hundred ways through the desert," he tells me. "The police
checkpoints are in one, and the rest of the desert is free for smugglers.