Afghan drugs trade rises dramatically since overthrow of Taliban
Syed
Salahuddin, Arab News, May 26, 2018
By giving
levy to the Taliban and bribing the very government forces tasked to destroy
the bloom of his poppy fields, Sanaullah for years has been planting poppy,
which is refined into opium and then into heroin.
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| The record level of opium cultivation creates multiple challenges for Afghanistan, according to the UN. (Reuters) |
KABUL: He
is one of the thousands of farmers who have turned to this industry, which has
earned Afghanistan global notoriety, and which strangely has been on the rise
since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban government despite the flow of
hundreds of millions of dollars and a campaign of eradication.
“We are
doing this because of extreme destitution. The Taliban come and take their
share as tax and we also pay tip money to police and others in the government,”
the farmer who operates in the southern region told Arab News.
“There is
a big market for this in the region and the world, with local and foreign mafia
making a big fortune out of this and even bankrolling the war here,” the
56-year-old said, requesting not to reveal the province where he lives for
security reasons.
He has
witnessed days in the initial years after the fall of the Taliban when foreign
and government forces conducted raids to destroy poppy fields, even causing
casualties on both sides. But farmers resumed cultivation.
Some
commanders within the government and warlords have been profiting from the
trade for years as well as the Taliban, according to locals.
There
have been allegations among Afghans, even some government officials, that
foreign troops are also involved in the trafficking, that how they are funding
the war in Afghanistan and that demand is increasing in the international
market.
In Kabul,
an official who works at the special tribunal for sentencing drug dealers
claimed that neither the government nor the foreign troops are “serious” at
this stage about the annihilation of drugs or arresting key figures involved in
the trafficking of narcotics.
“Hundreds
of people have been arrested over the years on suspicion of drug-smuggling, but
have you ever heard of or seen any major dealer being arrested?. They are only
after small fish to show to the world that they are fighting the drugs menace,”
he told Arab News.
Waheed
Mozhdah, an analyst, told Arab News he has heard from farmers in the south that
a new type of opium seed has come to Afghanistan that can produce multiple
harvests in a year.
This week
a survey for last year’s opium harvest of Afghanistan conducted by various
Afghan institutions and UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) was
released.
It showed
an increase of 63 percent in 2017, to an estimated 328,000 hectares.
“The
majority (60 percent) of opium poppy cultivation took place in the southern
region of the country. The western region accounted for 17 percent of total
cultivation; the northern for 13 percent and the eastern for 7 percent,” the
survey said.
The
remaining regions (northeastern and central) together accounted for 3 percent.
The report also highlighted an increase of 87 percent in opium production, i.e.
9,000 tons from its 2016 level (4,800 tons).
Deputy
Minister for Counter-Narcotics Jawed Qaem, described the illicit drugs trade as
a devastating catastrophe for Afghanistan and the world, and closely
interlinked with international terrorism.
He said:
“Global demand for drugs is the core driver of poppy cultivation in
Afghanistan; additional factors include the huge involvement of international
precursor traffickers and their strong ties with the mafia in transporting the
precursors into Afghanistan to convert opium to heroin.”
He added
that the Taliban profited from the trade, and it was a major source for funding
the insurgency.
The value of the trade of drugs has jumped to $6.6 billion last year compared to less than $3 billion in past years, he said.
The value of the trade of drugs has jumped to $6.6 billion last year compared to less than $3 billion in past years, he said.
Both the
government and UNODC said they will keep on their campaign against drugs.
