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Afghanistan reclaims its drug
crown
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - In the one-and-a-half years since the
fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the initiation of
rule under the US-supported administration of Hamad
Karzai, the country has once again become the center of
the world's poppy cultivation and the focus of
associated mafias who have reopened smuggling routes
closed by the Taliban.
According to Pakistani
narcotics intelligence agents, the world's many
international drug cartels have become active in the
region, notably those from Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and
Afghanistan itself, all of them attracted by the
abundance and low price of the cultivated opium.
Recently, a United Nations-funded anti-narcotics
agency reported that Afghanistan had regained top spot
as the world's largest producer of opium in 2002, with
3,400 tons generating revenue of more than US$1.4
billion.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (ODC)
has urged the world community to do more to help
eradicate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. It says that
official anti-drug efforts have failed to stop
widespread cultivation of poppies in Afghanistan, which
are used to make opium and its derivative, heroin.
A senior representative of the ODC, Thomas
Zeindl-Cronin, outlined the report at a news conference
in Pakistan recently. "About 3,400 tons of opium were
produced in Afghanistan in 2002, making Afghanistan
again the largest opium producer in the world. This is
an international problem since heroin originating from
Afghanistan is sold in many countries around the world,"
he said, adding that "over three-quarters of the heroin
sold in Europe originates from Afghanistan".
Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan had
significantly dropped during the latter years of Taliban
rule, which imposed extremely harsh punishment on poppy
growers. But now UN officials say that poppy cultivation
is on the rise again due to the instability caused by
the war - which has overshadowed anti-drug efforts.
Despite the fact that the transitional
government of Karzai has banned cultivation, processing,
trafficking and consumption of opiates in the country,
UN officials say that more enforcement is needed. They
advise the government to urgently develop a
"comprehensive" and "coordinated" national drug control
policy in line with international treaties for the
elimination of opium poppy. It also urges donor
countries to provide necessary funds to Karzai to beef
up his eradication campaign.
The resurgence of
poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has changed the
dynamics of the world opium market. During the Taliban
regime, existing smuggling routes to Pakistan, Iran,
Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were badly affected,
and gradually South American poppy fields and
laboratories filled the vacuum.
However, due to
high demand and short supply, the price of the finished
drugs was high. And access for the South American
products to Asia and Africa was difficult and costly,
which also had an impact on the market.
The
clamping down on poppy production in Afghanistan
adversely affected the economies of two of the smaller
of the seven states of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -
Ajman and Raasul Khaima. These two had a big users'
market, and narcotics intelligence reports indicate that
drugs from Pakistan were routed through them for sea
transport to Europe, Australia and the Americas.
From 1996 to 2001, Mexican drug cartels were
regarded as the cheapest heroin producers, mainly
because of the low grade of their heroin. Recently they
have improved their quality and made their products more
powerful than ever. However, despite these improvements
and several years of hegemony, the Afghan-Pakistan-based
drug cartels have bounced back and the South American
cartels are expected to feel the pinch.
The new
Afghan products are on sale in the markets of the UAE
for 50 US cents per gram (heroin). The same product then
becomes available on the US markets at a cost of another
10 cents a gram. This rate is almost half the price of
South American goods.
This development in the
region will give a boost to the black economies of
Afghanistan and small Arab states, and could also
attract South African and Thai-based drug cartels back
into the business.
In Afghanistan the return of
the poppy culture will play into the hands of the
warlords, who are again able to finance their armies
with drug money.
(©2003 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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