Comments on: Afghanistan’s Narco-Culture

By: sebistan

sebistan — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:19:33 +0000

Afghanistanica, don’t get me wrong, drug addiction is a terrible thing, and I don’t mean to sound casual about it.

However I still agree with Joshua that our experience with “War on Drugs” policies at the production market level has been miserable, and it seems to me if you were to make a list of priorities of how to patch up Afghanistan, worrying about opium production would rank near the bottom.

How about the fact that women’s literacy rates in rural levels is virtually negligible, that Kalashnikovs are still ubiquitous, that it still takes the better part of a week to drive from Herat to Kabul, that war criminals still cling to high-ranking positions in government, etc etc.

For opium, given the sheer volume of other challenges, I’d take the Peter Tosh route: legalize it and tax it. Get Merck and Phizer up in there.

By: Afghanistanica

Afghanistanica — Fri, 25 May 2007 04:19:45 +0000

Malnutrion, war-trauma AND opium addiction are all problems for Afghans in Afghanistan. Try to separate acknowledging the scale of the drug problem from whatever political motivations causing you to deny it is a problem.

RE: “I say let them grow their gulesorkh. Who cares? Heroin is mostly a European problem.”

I suppose the families of addicts and their victims care. And I care about both poor Afghan farmers and the victims of drug abuse in Europe and Asia. I imagine I’m not the only one holding these sentiments.

By: sebastian

sebastian — Fri, 25 May 2007 02:59:33 +0000

Afghanistanica: The glazed eyes and the disconnected look come from malnutrition, war trauma and the generally grim day-to-day life, not from opium.

And Alex, while I don’t have stats on TB income streams, I doubt that you or anyone else does either. My hunch is that the real cash comes from the same streams that it always has- bored, rich Wahabbi revolutionaries and Pakistani geopolickers. I bet there are just as many Mujahiddin, ex-communists and just plain old gangsters profiting from the opium as there are Taliban.

I say let them grow their gulesorkh. Who cares? Heroin is mostly a European problem. America’s got transfats to deal with! Who do we bomb for that?

By: Afghanistanica

Afghanistanica — Fri, 25 May 2007 02:28:59 +0000

Sebastian,
It’s unfortunate that the Afghan farmers don’t see farming opium as a problem for them. The amount of addicts in Afghanistan is rather disturbing. It would be nice to imagine that they realize the importance of shifting away from a product that is destroying their communities. Actually, I think they do realize what’s going on. It would be hard to miss all the glazed-eyes, disconnected looks and the Chiva pipe vendors at the bazaar.

By: Joshua Foust

Joshua Foust — Fri, 25 May 2007 01:36:26 +0000

Alex –

From my understanding, it does, but to varying degrees. In some areas, the opium is controlled, harvested, and shipped by the Taliban, whereas in other areas the Taliban basically runs security for other drug concerns. Making matters more complicated is rumors that they banned opium in Waziristan in 2003.

So while opium is a big part of their funding, it’s also probably not the majority, or I think you’d see a more concerted strategy on their part to incorporate it into their structure. Most of their money comes from the same places it always has: rich sheiks in the Gulf, channeling it through ISI.

By: Alex Strick van Linschoten

Alex Strick van Linschoten — Fri, 25 May 2007 01:17:45 +0000

Absolutely they are…opium funds a substantial portion of Taliban operations.

By: sebastian

sebastian — Thu, 24 May 2007 22:53:44 +0000

As someone who has worked in rural areas of Afghanistan for substantial periods, I always found it incredibly hard to preach “alternative crops” to subsistence farmers. Insofar as opium is a problem, it’s a problem for middle class European kids, not dirt-poor Afghan peasants.

And honestly has anyone really looked closely at Taliban income streams? Does the poppy harvest really figure that heavily? I suspect not.