History of Drug Trade in Afghanistan - Research Paper Example

Running head: Increasing Opium Production in Afghanistan Increasing Opium Production in Afghanistan Introduction Afghanistan has been considered to be the greatest opium producer in the world and this is the number that has been reflected in the latest reports. Burma, which is considered to be a part of the golden crescent stands after Afghanistan. After the Taliban in Afghanistan faced their downfall in the year of 2001, opium production in Afghanistan has been one of the major problems. The statistical data that has been produced by the UN based organization, UN Office of Drug and Crime, between the years of 2004 and 2007, opium cultivation in Afghanistan has been even higher than had been noticed in a single year under Taliban rule. If comparisons are made the land that is occupied in Latin America for cocoa cultivation is much lesser than the area of land that is being used for opium cultivation in Afghanistan. In the year of 2007, it had been estimated that in the international market, out of the total 93% of opiates had originated from Afghanistan. The total export that has been estimated by relevant numbers shown in the year of 2007 totals to US $4 billion. Moreover, a quarter of this is the amount that is earned by opium farmers based in Afghanistan and this list includes drug traffickers, district officials, insurgents, and warlords. Taliban had opium production banned in Afghanistan and in those times, during the period of 1994 to 2000, the gross income that was earned by opium farmers in Afghanistan had to be divided among 200,000 families (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 5). History of opium production in Afghanistan 1. The Soviet Period Afghanistan had been under the rule of the Soviet Union in the years of 1979 till 1989. Soviet invasion occurred in Afghanistan in the year of 1979 and the Afghan government had lost control of its provinces. According to a report by UN, during this period the warlords were thinking of ways to make money and opium production was the result of those think tanks. There have been multiple occasions when Soviets had said that the opium from Afghanistan was being smuggled across the borders and this was done with the help of American CIA agents. The reason that was provided was that the CIA was providing money to Afghan resistance and they wanted to make the Soviets weak by getting them into drug addiction (Tanner 10). 2. The Period of the Warlords The period of warlords within Afghanistan ranges from 1989 to 1994. The Soviet army or in the other words the Red Army had been forced out of Afghanistan in the year of 1989 and at that time there was no controlling authority. At this time there were many groups of mujahedeen based in Afghanistan and the vacuum of power led them to have fights with each other for a gain of power over Afghanistan. Moreover, the Western support also began to decline and this gave hype to the poppy cultivation and this was for the reason to financially support the military. 3. The Talibanisation Period Afghanistan had been under the rule of Taliban between the years of 1994 to 2001. During this period some of the local opium producers as well as dealers joined hands with local mujahedeen so as to gain the element of security. Moreover, by these opium dealers the main element to join hands with mujahedeen was to give their business a form of a safe operational hub. The mujahedeen, whose support was being looked for, were the ones who were being supported by the Arab based extremists (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 12). In this regard, an article named as “In the land of the Taliban” was written by Elizabeth Rubin and it was published on the 22nd of October 2006. The author had conducted a research on the relationship of the rise of Taliban and opium trade. Having a conversation with an opium smuggler in Afghanistan the author learnt that opium is smuggled throughout Afghanistan and across the borders till Turkey. The Afghan smuggler added that he sometimes had to pay off the local soldiers and policemen so they can use the vehicles for easy and uninterrupted smuggling across the borders. The Taliban had been included in this as smugglers always had the help of Taliban as the enemy commanders used to be killed by the Taliban. According to a BBC News an article named as Afghanistan's turbulent history published on 21 November 2008, it has been said that the instability in Afghanistan is the after math when King Zahir Shah had been overthrown while he was in Italy. It is also mentioned that Taliban had gained control of 90% of the country. Kabul was conquered in the year of 1996 and Taliban had extreme Islamic policies implemented in Afghanistan (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 25). Figure 1: Opium Production in Afghanistan during Taliban period A Swiss security publication refers to the fact that during the year of 1999 Afghanistan produced 4600 metric tons of opium and this had been the greatest number achieved under the Taliban rule. In the subsequent years the Taliban leader Mullah Omer in the year of 2001, declared that opium production is un-Islamic and this was the greatest anti drug campaign that the Taliban had to face. The effect of this had been seen to be dramatic as opium production had fallen to as low as zero and the fields were wiped out. According to a UNODC report, after the September 11, 2001 attacks that were carried out by CIA and the US military, Afghanistan had regained control from the Taliban and the Taliban were defeated by the November of 2001. The after effect of the Taliban defeat was that the economy of the country had faced a great downfall. This made the farmers resume opium cultivation that equalized to 1300 km2 in 2004 (Nojumi 55). Post Taliban Period This is the period that ranges from the year of 2001 till present. Significant increases in the prices of opium were seen in the year of 2000 and 2001. The interest in this time was being charged at 10,000 to 15,000 percent according to the 2001 report of UNDCP. As opium production was banned prior to these years brining the farmers to destitution, the most important factor for the increasing opium factor in the post Taliban period was the indebtedness. Record Breaking Sales in 2006 It is very well known as the fact that heroine produced by Afghanistan counts to 90% of the heroine suppliers in the word. However, sales that were made in the year of 2006 had been record breaking. This was in spite of the ongoing efforts of eradication efforts being made by the US based organizations. The year of 2006 saw an increase in the opium production by as high as 26% and in addition to this 5700 metric tons of opium was produced (Committee on Foreign Affairs 22). The year of 2007 saw an increase in the opium production by a 14%. Again a record of 480,000 acres of opium had been cultivated in 2007. Opium and Afghan Economy It has been realized through the years that drug trade, if disrupted in Afghanistan, will destabilize the country in an irreversible manner and this is the main problem that needs a solution and poor people of Afghanistan need to be made aware of other moneymaking alternatives. On an international scale there are many other countries that have entered the charts of being the greatest opium producers and this has an effect on the Afghanistan’s economy in an overall manner. Afghanistan has the drug industry that gives them a GDP of US$ 2.6 billion in one year. United Nation Developmental Programme, Afghanistan was ranked 173rd among the highest 177 countries and the ranking was made using the human development index that reflected that in accordance to the development indicator Afghanistan was either at the top or the bottom of each of the development indicators that relate to nutrition, mortality, life expectancy and even literacy (Tanner 40). There are many factors which encourage opium production in many countries as well as in Afghanistan and the major concluded factor has been the economic condition of the country. In the case of Afghanistan it has been seen that owing to opium production, the agricultural sector has benefitted the most making the economy go higher. The fact that needs to be emphasized here is that just 12% of the Afghan land can be farmed and 79% of the Afghan population relies on agriculture to make their living. Wherever the Afghan economy has taken a rise it is due to opium cultivation. Thereby, the economy of Afghanistan is highly dependent on opium. More than US $ 3 billion were made out of opium cultivation in the year of 2004. Much of the Afghan people are engaged in the opium processing profession. It has been estimated by the UNODC that around 3 million Afghanis are involved in opium production belonging to 28 provinces out of the 34 total provinces. Although the economy gets a lot of gains from opium production, still less than 20% get to the insolvent farmers and the rest of the 80% of profits go to the higher authorities. According to the Afghanistan Opium Survey that was performed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2007, Afghanistan had given the world 8200 metric tons of opium in one year. This number is representing the double amount as compared to what is the annual consumption of opium on an international scale (Byrd 22). Anti Narcotics Policy Summing up all the economy that is generated in Afghanistan, it can be said that the major part of the economy comes from the opium industry. There have been many anti narcotics policies laid down by the Afghani governments including the Karzai government however they have all failed because of the reason that corruption related to the opium economy is present in all the levels of the government, ranging from the police to the parliament. It has been seen that the transporters of opium as well as the farmers keep on bribing the policemen and most importantly the personnel involved in anti narcotic agencies in the countries. 70% of opium trafficking occurs under the consent of government officials. In the post Taliban period it has been noticed that the government official had started to pay farmers the amount of US$350 per hectare to destroy their opium fields while the local residents were asking for US$3000. The people had been in demands of permanent jobs and security of jobs for the next five years so they are sure that they can destroy their fields (Committee on Foreign Affairs 28). Role of the United States Noticing that the Afghan rules and government is failing to control the problem of opium production in the country, USA has intervened in this respect and the policy that has been designed by USA has five main objectives; 1. For the financial stability the poor families in Afghanistan should be given other alternatives to make money 2. Opium should be completely eradicated from Afghanistan 3. Interdiction 4. All of the laws related to the halt to the opium production should be reformed at all levels. 5. The Afghani public should be made aware of the effects of growing opium production as well as alternative ways to make money rather than depending on opium for economical changes. Many of the major departments from US are intervening into the situation of the increasing opium production in Afghanistan and these include the Department of State (DoS), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Department of Justice (DoJ) still the role that has been played by these departments is not enough and sufficient to stop the hype in opium growth in Afghanistan. It has been added by the executive director of UNODC's that the need that is to be realized is that the supply and demand of opium needs to be decreased. The countries that are in highest demand of opium need to be made aware of the fact of drug addiction. The main rationale is that if the demand of heroine decreases the production will fall consequently (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 44). Figure 2: The trends of Opium production throughout Afghanistan Eradication policies that came in to be implemented by the US included spraying of herbicides by the anti narcotic agencies based in US. However in the later years the Afghan government had prohibited the spraying of aerial herbicides. The heavy bars tractors had been used by these anti narcotic agencies to destroy the opium fields which were insufficient in number. 39000 acres of opium fields had been destroyed out of the total 430,000 acres. Afghanistan is going back to the time when warlords had gained access to the government of the country and it has been noticed that the US had paid the warlords a total amount of US$7 million so that the warlords can fight against the terrorists present within Afghanistan. It had been seen that opium production saw a decline in the year of 2008 and the reason can be given as an eradication campaigns as well as an awareness campaigns that had been successful to a great extent. Figure 3: Estimates of poppy production in 2008 Figure 4: Trends change in 2008 Figure 5: Afghan provinces growing poppy Figure 6 : Results of anti narcotics campaigns in Afghanistan Figure 7: opium price ranges in 2007 The strong leadership shown by the governors and because of the eradication efforts that had been implemented by the US in the year of 2008 it was seen that there was a 19% decrease in opium production and it reflected the fact that 157,000 hectares of opium had been harvested as compared to the 2007’s 193,000 acres of opium. Higher than 50% of the provinces in Afghanistan had been declared as opium free (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 100). Figure 8: Opium cultivation in 2008 Conclusion Opium is one of the major industries in Afghanistan that had played the most important role in the economical growth in Afghanistan. It has been seen that any economical growth that has been seen in Afghanistan is because of the record growth of opium in the country. The poor population, being less aware, lesser literate with no infrastructure is in need of the country to be stronger in its economy so as to be able to support the citizens. Up till now the government has been ailing to support the citizens that make the farmers grow opium as it is the only way out. This needs to be seen as the main rationale when opium production, as a problem, needs to be solved. The changes are needed not on the government or the parliamentary levels but on major levels including the demands and supply sector. Moreover, alternatives should be made known to the people of Afghanistan so they stop relying on opium to provide them with food and shelter. References Byrd, W., and World Bank. (2005). Afghanistan--state building, sustaining growth, and reducing poverty. World Bank. Committee on Foreign Affairs. (2005). Proposal for a European parliament recommendation to the council: on production of opium for medical purposes in Afghanistan, report. European parliament. Nojumi, N. (2002). The rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: mass mobilization, civil war, and the future of the region. Palgrave Macmillan. Steinberg, K. M., Hobbs, J. J., and Mathewson, K. (2004). Dangerous harvest: drug plants and the transformation of indigenous landscapes. Oxford University Press US. Tanner, S. (2009). Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Taliban Insurgency. 2nd edition. Da Capo Press. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2007). Afghanistan Opium Survey. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2008). Opium Winter Rapid Assessment Survey. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Read More