Author:
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 2, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/233082/Afghanistan’s-opium-problem-ignored.html
The Taliban can neither be co-opted nor defeated
so long as poppy fields flourish, says Andrei Fedyashin
Like every other Afghanistan conference, the
Sixth Conference in London on January 28 did not discuss the country's opium
problem.
The more than 70 countries and international
organisations that met in London have declared the goals of creating "a
more stable and secure Afghanistan", transferring power to the Afghan
Government, and reintegrating "those who renounce violence, cut links
to terrorism and agree to work within the democratic process" into Afghan
society.
However, refusing to discuss Afghanistan's
opium problem is like discussing reconciliation in Colombia without touching
on the cocaine trade which has sustained rebels for a long time.
The United States and Britain do not like
to discuss heroin at international conferences, and they do not like it when
Russia tries to convince them to launch major anti-opium projects in Afghanistan
and adjacent regions. Russia is pursuing this mostly because the Afghan connection
has become a strategic threat to Russia, as the Central Asian countries' borders
with Afghanistan are completely unprotected.
The Western stance on the issue could be justified,
because the struggle against drugs calls for a delicate touch and perfect
organisation, and is better waged silently. Nobody can contest this truth.
On the other hand, there is one more reason for the unwillingness to consider
Afghanistan's drug problem.
Not much has been done to cleanse it of drugs
in the eight years since the deployment of the coalition troops in the country.
In fact, progress in the matter is strange, with one step forward and two
steps back or even sideways.
All drug experts, including those focussed
on Afghanistan, claim that the goals of settlement and reintegration cannot
be achieved even if the country had an ideal Government consisting of perfectly
honest people. They say that the situation has gone too far for that, that
drugs have become an inalienable part of life in Afghanistan, a disease that
cannot be treated by therapeutic methods.
To better understand the problem, it should
be divided into several elements - poppy cultivation (fields sown with opium
poppy), opium (initial processing) and heroin (the end product). But even
these statistical breakdowns will not be entirely accurate, with an estimated
error of 10 to 20 per cent. It is impossible to accurately measure the area
sown with opium poppy in Afghanistan, or the opium and heroin output.
Since the latest Afghanistan conference was
held in London, I propose considering the issue with the example of Britain's
sector of responsibility, the south-western Helmand province.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime,
which collects data during the spring sowing season, areas sown with opium
poppy in Helmand decreased by 33 per cent last year, to 172,970 acres, which
is still a lot. Poppy fields were cut by 22 per cent country-wide.
These data could be presented as an achievement
of the anti-drug effort, but unfortunately drug technology has also improved.
The UN data also shows that the opium poppy
fields were larger last year than in 2006 when British troops were deployed
in Helmand.
Although the country's opium poppy areas decreased
by 22 per cent, the production of raw opium fell by only 10 per cent if not
less. British experts have established that Afghan farmers have learned to
produce more opium juice per poppy than a year ago, 56 kg of opium per 2.47
acres, 15 per cent more than a year ago.
The opium lords have enough money to introduce
modern technology to increase output. According to UN data, the drug business
in Afghanistan is estimated at between $ 3.6 billion and $ 4.2 billion annually.
The Taliban leadership and field commanders
are like Siamese twins with the opium business, following in the footsteps
of Colombia. Initially, the Colombian guerrillas protected drug-traffickers
and dealers, but then they started to protect their factories, and eventually
gained control of the drug business. This is logical, as revenues are higher
without intermediaries.
The example of Colombia shows that the drug
business very quickly erodes the ideological basis of any anti-Government,
anti-occupation and any other protest movement, leaving nothing but the shell
- slogans.
The same has happened in Afghanistan. According
to British sources, the overwhelming majority of the Taliban prisoners admit
that they receive the bulk of their funds for food, fuel and weapons from
the drug business. The British say that the Taliban annually earn more than
$ 100 million from the drug business, which they spend on their movement and
Al Qaeda operations.
The price of raw opium has fallen to $48 per
kg, yet this is only proof of the failure of US and British anti-drug policies.
(Afghan authorities have no opportunity to administer such policies.)
The Taliban has accumulated approximately
10,000 tonnes of opium over the last few years, while annual global consumption
is about 5,000 tonnes. In other words, the Taliban can afford to reduce opium
poppy fields because they have two years' worth of opium!
