Smash The Opium Trade in Afghanistan
K.
Subrahmanyam
5
Aug 2008
The
basic flaw in the US strategy of fighting the war against Taliban has been
exposed in an article in the New York Times on July 27, 2008 by Thomas Schweich
who was till recently deputy assistant secretary for counter-narcotics
campaigns in the state department. While understandably his focus is on the
narcotics issue he makes out a strong case that the war in Afghanistan cannot
be won without cutting off the resource base of Taliban — the poppy crop. He is
highly critical of President Hamid Karzai for being soft on poppy cultivation,
the drug lords and the poppy farmers and is equally unsparing about the
attitude of the Pentagon whose first priority is winning the war while letting
the narcotics problem be sorted out by somebody else.
Most
of the poppy cultivation is in southern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan
border, by Pathans who form the core support base of Karzai. He is, therefore,
ambivalent about the destruction of poppy crops. While the US Drug Enforcement
Agency had urged destroying the crops through aerial spraying of herbicide,
Karzai had objected to it on the ground it was not acceptable and has favoured
ground destruction of the crop. Such ground destruction is less efficient,
takes more manpower and needs security personnel to protect those destroying
the crop from Taliban attacks. The result is that Afghanistan’s poppy
cultivation is expanding and is expected to produce a bountiful crop this year.
The
poppy crop is profitable for the farmer, local drug lord, corrupt bureaucracy
and, above all, the Taliban which controls the area. In these circumstances,
Karzai can only be the mayor of Kabul, as he is often described. According to
Schweich, the Pentagon has taken a stand that eradication of narcotics is not
part of their mission. The result is that Taliban gets unlimited resources to
fight the war against the US and not allow Karzai to consolidate his rule. He
is, therefore, of the view that unless Karzai is compelled to change his stand
and the Pentagon treats narcotics elimination on a war footing, it would be
difficult to bring the war against Taliban to an early conclusion.
While
this thesis is basically correct, it focuses narrowly only on counter-narcotics
strategy within Afghanistan. Narcotics in Afghanistan has a long history.
During the mujahideen campaign against the Soviet forces in the 80s, the CIA
supported poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and a large drug trade was developed
to finance the campaign. Heroin was exported via Pakistan which became a major
drug trading hub. The present poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and its
conversion into heroin and export to the rest of the world cannot be sustained
without involvement of Pakistan as Afghanistan is a landlocked country.
This
would also explain the interaction between the Afghan Taliban and its Pakistani
counterpart and the power and influence of various drug lords-cum-tribal
chieftains on both sides of Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
The
drug money has played a role in Pakistani politics and there have been
allegations in the media of the involvement of the Pakistani army in receipt
and disbursal of drug money in electoral campaigns. There have also been
reports that the army and the ISI have used drug money for their covert
operations. In the 90s, the US got some of the drug lords handed over to them
and sentenced to long terms in prison.
While
Washington is reportedly pressing Islamabad to take stronger measures against
Taliban in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the narcotics issue has not
featured as one of the factors to be tackled. India has a legitimate interest
in taking up this issue with the US. Recently, Admiral McConnell, director of
national intelligence, was in India seeking to promote closer cooperation
between Indian and US intelligence.
The
expansion of narcotics cultivation in Afghanistan, its processing and trade and
its financing of Taliban and terrorist operations are appropriate issues for
discussion with the US intelligence and strategic community. Drug money
finances terrorism which has been intensified against India in recent times.
The
poppy cultivation in southern Afghanistan and Taliban’s stake in it comes in
the way of development projects in which India has invested heavily.
Increased
flow of drugs through Pakistan is bound to affect India and make it a transit
zone. Large availability of drug money on the other side of the Indo-Pak border
and the need to use India as a drug transit route would also facilitate the
traffic of terrorists, corrupt border security personnel and finance formation
of more terrorist cells in India.
The US
itself was permissive about the drug trade and financing in the 80s so long as
it helped in the anti-Soviet campaign. Washington has less justification to
tolerate the drug trade now. India should take up this issue both with the US
and Pakistan. Drugs and terrorism have gone together in many parts of the
world. Drugs, terrorism and religious extremism make for an explosive mixture.
This
is an issue on which even the civil society in Pakistan will be concerned. It
is ominous that an issue which the US counter-narcotics official has
highlighted has not attracted public attention over the last two years. India
can ill afford to overlook this threat.
K.
Subrahmanyam is a Delhi-based strategic affairs analyst.
Source:
Times of India, New Delhi
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