Weapons of mass distraction (WMD), terrorism and transnational crimes are among the leading threats to the global security. There are many places in the world that may not see WMD and terrorism as an immediate threat, but transnational crime is an immediate threat everywhere. Illicit drugs threat every community and it kills thousands of people every year around the world. Unfortunately, Afghanistan produces around 85% of the world opium. So, the illicit drugs are not only a matter of national security for Afghanistan, but it should be a global concern. The war on illicit drugs is as important as the war on terror.
US. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Michael Hanley, right, a machine gunner with 2D Squad, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, patrols through a field of poppy outside of Patrol Base Fires, Helmand province, Afghanistan April 24, 2012. Marines conducted the patrol to interact with the local populace and gather information on enemy activity in the area.
Terrorism and insurgency are not the only threat in Afghanistan. Corruption, illegal mining and illicit drugs are the drivers of insecurity and instability. Understating the relevance and the level of the threat from the illicit drugs, recently the US and the Afghan government has launched joint air campaigns against heroin processing labs in Afghanistan. In the last 15 years, the world community and the government of Afghanistan have tried different approaches to counter illicit drugs mainly narcotics, but they have failed and since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 the opium product increased 4864 % in the country. According to the UNODC (United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime) reports In 2001 Afghanistan produced 185 tons of opium, but in 2017 it has increased to around 9000 tons.
The major rich cities in the US and Europe are the most expensive market for the opioids products. The United Nation’s 2017 world drug report from 2015, global estimates of drug use shows that there are 255 million people use illicit drugs and every year illicit drugs kill 190,900 people. Drug cultivation, processing, trafficking and its business in black market kill a lot more people than the consumers. According to the 2017 European drug report, a total of 8,441 people died in Europe in 2015 from opioid overdoes. And based on to the US National Center for Health Statistics, CDC Wonder report in 2017, more than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016. So, drugs kill more people in the Western world than the terrorists’ attacks.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report 2017
All three branches of the Afghan government have dedicated resources and specialized institutions to fight narcotics. The legislative bodies have two committees for this matter. The judiciary system has a special tribunal called Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF). In the executive body the Office of the President, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Countering Narcotics and a Deputy Minister of Countering Narcotics at the Ministry of Interior Affairs struggle to fight poppy cultivation and illicit drugs as well.
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that as of March 31, 2017, the United States has provided $8.5 billion for counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan since 2002 . The European Union, the World Bank, the UN agencies and many other donors also have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in this war. Thousands of brave Afghan security forces died in the fight against drugs, but everything has failed so far.
There are around more than twenty UN agencies in Afghanistan. However, several of these agencies contribute to countering narcotics efforts, but the UNODC primarily work against drugs in Afghanistan. These UN agencies have also failed to come with any policy or strategy to help the Afghan government in the fight against illicit drugs.
It would take some 16.7 kilogram of opium to produce 1 kilogram of heroin and 1 kilogram of heroin has a street value of up to $1.5 million in the Western world. In Afghanistan average price of dry opium in 2017 is $ 155.00. The massive cost difference and an increasing demand for the opium in the international market is also among the major cause of increasing poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.
Prices of dry opium at harvest time weighted by production and annual opium production, 1999-2017 (tons; US dollars per kilogram)
A UNODC report form 2016 shows that Afghanistan produced around 4800 tons of opium and the illicit drug money made some 16 percent of the country’s GDP, and it was worth more than two-thirds of the entire agricultural sector. This illicit economy made up to 57 percent of the annual household income of the Afghan farmers. This year the opium product is doubled form 2016.
The latest report from NATO shows that the Taliban insurgents generate $ 200 million per year from opium, nearly a 60 percent of their total income. This money fuels the war in Afghanistan. NATO forces in Afghanistan reported around 400-500 drug processing labs around the country. On Nov 19, 2017, only during one-day joint US-Afghan air operation 8 illicit drugs’ labs in the Southern Helmand province targeted and destroyed by the coalition forces. This was the largest ever joint air campaign against such labs, where the Afghan A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft, the US strategic bomber B52, and F22 tactical fighter aircraft dropped massive bombs on these labs. It shows a strong commitment of the Afghan government and an unprecedented US support in the fight against illicit drugs.
In Iraq, the collation forces targeted oil refinery of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) and their caravans of fuel tankers. The fuel was one of the primary source of Daesh’s income and targeting this resource has weekend Daesh so much. Therefore, targeting the drugs’ labs in Afghanistan will certainly weaken the insurgents, terrorists, and mafia, but it may not affect the poppy fields.
Poppy is a survival alternative for many Afghan farmers. However, without a livelihood alternative for the poppy, only eradicating poppy may have consequences in long-term, including more farmer may join the Taliban insurgents to defend their farms. Targeting these labs will have a significant impact on processing opium, but this may have very less impact on poppy cultivation because these are two different processes.
In the past 16 years, numerous methods including providing alternative means for agriculture and eradication of poppy cultivation have been used by the Afghan government and the international community, but all these options have failed due to wide corruption and absence of a comprehensive policy and limited resources.
Afghanistan has thousands of miles of open borders with Pakistan, Iran, and three Central Asian countries, therefore smuggling opium to the neighboring countries’ labs are not very difficult. So, targeting labs in Afghanistan can be one element of fighting illicit drugs. Providing an alternative for poppy, fighting corruption, reform in the judiciary system and security sector reform are essential pillars of ending illicit drugs, which is the main cause of war in Afghanistan. Therefore, it is better to focus on the cause more than the symptoms.