SUNDAY READING

New Delhi, 16 June 2009

On  Afghan Drug Trail

INDIA A TRANSIT POINT

By Radhakrishna Rao

 
Not long back, the notorious and poorly administrated ‘golden triangle’ at the tri-junction of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos accounted for more than half of the high grade heroine consumed over a large part of the world. The much-sought after heroin from the ‘golden triangle’ used to reach the consumption points spread across the world through a well-organized and highly mobile syndicate of ‘smugglers and couriers’.

India, on account of its proximity to South-East Asia was a major recipient of heroin from the ‘golden triangle’. In particular, an assortment of tribal separatist militants active in North-Eastern India used to peddle the drug with a view to raise the much-needed funds for buying arms and ammunition to sustain their separatist movement. But, following the death of drug lord Khun Sha, who presided over the narcotics trade from his forest hideout, the ‘golden triangle’ lost its importance as a major heroin supplier to the world.

However, the declining fortunes of the ‘golden triangle’ proved to be an advantage for the ‘Golden Crescent’ at the tri-junction of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. The tightly knit tribal groups in this geographical stretch succeeded in turning the ‘Golden Crescent’ as the numero uno heroin supplier of the world.

Of course, Afghanistan continues to be at the epicenter and mainstay of the ‘golden triangle’. The propping up of the Taliban militia by the US’s CIA to counter the Soviet defence forces in Afghanistan in the late 1970s was a turning point in giving a push-up to the poppy cultivation in this puritanical Muslim country. Wherein, the poor Afghan farmers preferred to extract heroin from poppy plants compared to traditional crops like maize and cotton as it was a lucrative revenue source for the Taliban forces to buy arms from the global market.

The proximity of India to Pakistan and the unhindered movement of Taliban forces across the loosely guarded and porous Pak-Afghan border have helped turn India --- considered a soft State by both the smugglers and terrorists ---- into a transit point for smuggling of heroin from Afghanistan.

According to the Narcotics Control Bureau, heroin from Afghanistan is pushed into India through the land route across Pakistan and from here is dispatched to destinations like Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai. In recent years, South-East Asian women form part of the global drug cartel and serve as couriers to carry drugs from India to various points across the world.

Not long back, China, which is a large and growing market for heroin, used to get its supplies from North India. However, this trend has changed on account of increased surveillance. Now airports in South India are used to smuggle out Afghan-origin heroin to China. With a kg of high quality heroin fetching a price of upto US$10 million in the global market, traffickers are willing even to risk their lives.

Presently, Afghanistan accounts for more than two-third of the illicit opium produced in the world. According to an estimate by the UN, Taliban forces active in parts of Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan stand to make a whopping US$100 million from the thriving drug trade. “Indeed, it is the insurgents, the Taliban that are deriving enormous funding from this business by imposing a 10% tax on production” stated the  Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

In 2007, Afghanistan reaped a record poppy production, an increase of 14% over the previous year grown on an area of 93,000-hectares. Incidentally, much of the poppy cultivation was reported from areas under the control and influence of the Taliban forces. Thanks to the vigorous eradication program supported by various international agencies, in 2008 the area under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan showed a slight decline.

According to UN sources the areas under the control of the Afghan Government forces are likely to remain free of poppy cultivation. But what nudges the poor Afghan farmers to take to illegal poppy cultivation is the opportunity it provides to improve their living standards. As none of the legal crops, including maize and rice, can match the income from poppy cultivation which is conservatively estimated at US$5,000 per hectare.

Even as war-ravaged and poverty-stricken Afghanistan battles towards eradicating poppy cultivation in the country, a new disturbing trend has become a part of the poppy farmers’ life. Those farmers, who fail to clear their debt with the drug traffickers thanks to their poppy cultivation being destroyed by Government officials , have to hand over their teenage daughters to their debtors in settlement of the loan.

An in-depth and  distressing story carried by the Newsweek magazine  sometime back  had quoted Afghan villagers as saying that the “number of loan brides” in the country was on the increase with the anti-poppy eradication drive gathering momentum. Incidentally, this “uncivilized practice” has roots in the tribal system of dowry. A bridegroom’s family normally pays to the bride’s family as part of the prevailing tradition.

Yet another disturbing dimension of Afghanistan’s narcotics business is the revelation in the Russian media that the US-led NATO forces have contributed to the spectacular growth of opium production in the country. According to Russians reports, both the US and NATO have stone-walled numerous  offers of cooperation from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation(CSTO) for addressing Afghanistan’s opium problem.

Another article carried in the Russian newspaper Vremya Novostei claimed that the US-backed Afghan Government led by Hamid Karzai is hand-in-glove with the drug barons of the country. According to Russian diplomatic sources military transport aircrafts operated by NATO forces in Afghanistan are routinely used to transport heroin out of the country. But whether this    allegation is true or false, no one is sure.

On their part Russian academicians point out that poppy cultivation is the backbone and mainstay of the Afghan economy and accounts for a turnover of US$10 billion a year. Significantly, Russian commentators assert that Afghan heroin has hit Russia like a tsunami with a potential to tear asunder it social fabric. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)