When people say 'Afghanistan' I immediately associate it with scenes of war and destruction so I don’t really consider the fact that Afghanistan is considered the largest opium producer in the world. But how can it be when there’s a war going on?
Looking abit deeper into the subject I was shocked to find the following title on the global research website;
Drug War? American Troops Are Protecting Afghan Opium. U.S. Occupation Leads to All-Time High Heroin Production
Looking abit deeper into the subject I was shocked to find the following title on the global research website;
Drug War? American Troops Are Protecting Afghan Opium. U.S. Occupation Leads to All-Time High Heroin Production
The videos on the blog shows a story which is far more complex than the headline and my knowledge of the situation had suggested. The US and other NATO forces use the idea of ‘winning the hearts and minds of the people’ and this prevents them from stopping the production of opium as if they were to do so the lives of the farmers and their families would be put in jeopardy and might cause resentment towards NATO and ISAF.
So why do the farmers grow opium? Well, for a start there’s a massive global demand especially in the developed world for heroin so the Taliban uses this global demand to finance their operations across the region. This works out pretty well for the farmers as well, or rather it generates a lot more profit than more legal crops such as cotton and cucumbers ever would. So the peacekeeping forces have to put up with the farming of Opium and instead have to make themselves content with chasing the drug dealers across the globe whilst the farmers live in a wealthier poverty than they would without their opium crop.
But hang on, if opium finances the Taliban, then why did they briefly outlaw its production in 2001? The answer is unfortunately quite simple, the Taliban is a Religious movement and according to the Qur’an drugs such as opium are ‘abominations of the devil’. By enforcing this religious teaching the Taliban scored a moral victory with global recognition as a force capable of fighting the war on drugs. The embargo only ended (less than a year later) when NATO invaded and the Taliban needed more money to repel the invaders which they unfortunately are still working on over a decade later. However reports from the time suggest that the banning of opium production may have caused starvation and migration as farmers struggled to feed their own families.
So what does the graph tell us? Well the obvious eye opener is the fact that the Taliban can enforce local law more effectively than international forces that are often regarded as being more structured and effective. More shocking is the massive difference between the levels of opium production during 2001, when the Taliban outlawed opium production, and all the other years over the 28 year period especially in recent years, where opium is being produced at a scale which outstrips global demand (BBC report). So does this perhaps tell us whose really in control of the local population?
As international troops prepare to depart next year the only thing people can say for certain is that the Taliban will have a role to play in the future of the fragile state and this sort of makes sense, the Taliban are made up of the families and friends of normal everyday Afghani civilians, they’re not soldiers from the other side of the world they’re locals who understand the people and the land in a way that NATO and ISAF forces fail to.
How naïve of me, The Taliban enforced their ban using threats, eradication and public punishments against transgressors. Perhaps not winning the hearts and minds of the people but the US army cant exactly say they’ve put a hole in three quarters of the worlds heroin supply can they.
The fact that opium production has been consistently over 100x higher under international peacekeepers than it was under the Taliban suggests the violence in the region has only been sleeping, next year it may resume its rampage as if nothing has happened over the last decade since the invasion.
So why do the farmers grow opium? Well, for a start there’s a massive global demand especially in the developed world for heroin so the Taliban uses this global demand to finance their operations across the region. This works out pretty well for the farmers as well, or rather it generates a lot more profit than more legal crops such as cotton and cucumbers ever would. So the peacekeeping forces have to put up with the farming of Opium and instead have to make themselves content with chasing the drug dealers across the globe whilst the farmers live in a wealthier poverty than they would without their opium crop.
But hang on, if opium finances the Taliban, then why did they briefly outlaw its production in 2001? The answer is unfortunately quite simple, the Taliban is a Religious movement and according to the Qur’an drugs such as opium are ‘abominations of the devil’. By enforcing this religious teaching the Taliban scored a moral victory with global recognition as a force capable of fighting the war on drugs. The embargo only ended (less than a year later) when NATO invaded and the Taliban needed more money to repel the invaders which they unfortunately are still working on over a decade later. However reports from the time suggest that the banning of opium production may have caused starvation and migration as farmers struggled to feed their own families.
So what does the graph tell us? Well the obvious eye opener is the fact that the Taliban can enforce local law more effectively than international forces that are often regarded as being more structured and effective. More shocking is the massive difference between the levels of opium production during 2001, when the Taliban outlawed opium production, and all the other years over the 28 year period especially in recent years, where opium is being produced at a scale which outstrips global demand (BBC report). So does this perhaps tell us whose really in control of the local population?
As international troops prepare to depart next year the only thing people can say for certain is that the Taliban will have a role to play in the future of the fragile state and this sort of makes sense, the Taliban are made up of the families and friends of normal everyday Afghani civilians, they’re not soldiers from the other side of the world they’re locals who understand the people and the land in a way that NATO and ISAF forces fail to.
How naïve of me, The Taliban enforced their ban using threats, eradication and public punishments against transgressors. Perhaps not winning the hearts and minds of the people but the US army cant exactly say they’ve put a hole in three quarters of the worlds heroin supply can they.
The fact that opium production has been consistently over 100x higher under international peacekeepers than it was under the Taliban suggests the violence in the region has only been sleeping, next year it may resume its rampage as if nothing has happened over the last decade since the invasion.
