Opium threatens Afghanistan’s security [Archives:2004/757/Reportage]
July 22 2004
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Yemen Times Staff
This month Afghanistan's interim government made a decision that should bring democracy to the war-torn country. Even though the elections have been delayed, the presidential election is scheduled to be held in October, followed by parliamentary elections next spring. Many Afghans see the elections as a positive sign for their future after going through 25 years of warfare and three decades of having no power to vote.
But there is a menace growing in Afghanistan that will be difficult for the new government to handle and might continue to be a threat to the country's stability. Opium production has flourished since the Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001. In 2003, over 80,000 hectares were used for poppy cultivation and the country produced 3,600 tons of opium – up from 185 tons in 2001 – taking up 75% of the world market. It is estimated that the drug trade accounted for half of the country's gross domestic product.
According to the United Nations, opium production has jumped even higher this year.
“Our assessment of poppy cultivation has not been completed, but indicators show that cultivation continued to rise in 2004,” said Alexandre Schmidt, Crime Prevention Expert of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The Afghan government took initial steps to fight the drug business this year by implementing an eradication program. Syed Alamudin Atheer, Deputy Director of Counter Narcotics Directorate, said that the government has destroyed 25,000 hectares of poppy fields in over a half-dozen provinces. But critics say that the government was late starting the eradication program.
“The government went and destroyed what was left late spring and early summer after the poppies had been cultivated,” said an Afghan government official. “I think it was just a show to make it look like they had done something.”
The government will have problems getting farmers to follow the eradication program in the future. To convince farmers to stop growing poppies, what is needed is a profitable alternative crop. Up until now, no program has been implemented to help the farmers find a substitute.
“There has been an immediate focus on eradication with little focus on what happens after eradication,” said Schmidt. “September is the time to plant poppies again. If nothing happens by September, what are people going to do while they need to earn a living? There is no other choice but to plant poppies.”
Many farmers say they are not against changing to another crop but are angry that they are left with no assistance after losing their best source of income.
“The government destroyed what we can cultivate and did not bring us anything,” said Abdul Samad, a farmer in the Herat province where poppy fields were destroyed last month. “If we do not have an alternative, I will not be able to do anything but grow poppies.”
Rebuilding Afghanistan is also vital for the farmers to be able to move away from cultivating poppies. After years of ongoing warfare, roads have been left in shambles which has made it difficult for farmers to ship produce to a market. Irrigation facilities have been destroyed, so farmers rely on poppies that require less water than most other crops.
But reconstructing Afghanistan has been slow. President Hamid Karzai requested $27.5 billion over a seven-year period to rebuild the country soon after he took office in 2001, but money coming in from donor counties has not kept up with the amount needed each year. The Bush administration has diverted military and financial resources from Afghanistan to the war in Iraq. To rebuild the two countries, the United States has come up with $2.2 billion for Afghanistan and $18.6 billion to go to Iraq. A large part of funding for Afghanistan will be for military projects and emergency relief, not long-term development.
Drug trafficking in Afghanistan now supports a number of factions struggling for power. The remnants of the Taliban fighting US forces in the south use opium to finance their insurgency. Over a dozen warlords, who filled the power vacuum since the interim government was put into place, exploit the drug trade to pull in money and help build their power base.
“Some groups have their own armies and need money to support them,” said Atheer. “Warlords, druglords and religious militants have become involved in the drug business because they cannot get money through legal forms of business. We can also say that these groups are responsible for the increase in violence with an aim to destabilize the country.”
To help stabilize the country, the Afghan government started to disarm the mujahedin, soldiers who fought against the Soviet Union and the Taliban and their loyal warlords. The Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program aimed to collect 40,000 weapons by mid-summer, but only a few thousand have been seized. Powerful warlords, who control vast areas outside Kabul, the capital, have refused cooperating to handover weapons.
While the US soldiers have concentrated on the Taliban in the south, NATO has headed the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to provide security throughout the country. The ISAF has had only 6,500 troops stationed in Afghanistan, mostly patrolling the streets of the capital. Last month, NATO promised to send another 1,500 and expand its operations outside Kabul to help stabilize the country during elections.
The government also has plans to expand on the Afghan National Army (ANA), which has only 8,300 troops. According to Umer Daudzai, Chief of Staff for President Karzai, the government aims to double the amount of soldiers this year. The US goal is to train 10,000-12,000 each year to help create an Afghan army of 70,000 soldiers by 2011.
Azizullah Lodin, President of General Administration of Anti-Bribery and Corruption, argues that if the two governments had done this sooner, Afghanistan could have kept the emergence of warlords and the drug trade in check.
“They should have strengthened the national army from the beginning because if the power had been with the central government, warlords and druglords wouldn't have filled the vacuum,” Lodin said.
Until recently, Afghanistan was a supplier of opium as a raw material that was exported to neighboring countries. Now sophisticated labs to produce the lucrative end product, heroin, have emerged. Organized crime groups have also set up shop which will make fighting drug trafficking more difficult.
“With more organized crime groups, drug trafficking more complex and heroin being exported instead of raw material, dealing with the drug business is going to be difficult,” said Atheer.
This month it was reported that the surge in poppy cultivation has flooded the market which has pushed the price of opium down. In the last few months, prices dropped by around 65%. Some say that it might force farmers to seek alternative crops next year. But others argue that the glut in the market will not last forever and will only be a short-term fix.
“For the long haul, Afghanistan needs to implement a comprehensive program to control the production of opium,” said Atheer. “Without it, we will not be able to tackle the drug business.”
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