Bitter-Sweet Harvest: Afghanistan's New War

IRIN Web Special on the threat of opium to Afghanistan and the region.

The five former Soviet republics that lie north of Afghanistan are experiencing growing destabilisation as result of a vast increase in heroin trafficking from their southern neighbour, various experts say.

"The vulnerable political fabric in the capitals and at local level is being eroded as drug money fuels corruption and lawlessness," regional analyst Sergei Andreyev of the London-based Institute of Ismaili Studies told IRIN. Addiction rates are rocketing. The transmission of HIV/AIDS through intravenous drug use is on the rise and steadily making the transition into the general population. And the weakening of political and legal institutions by drug trafficking is an additional obstacle to vital economic and political reforms in the region, he explained.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, all five Central Asian countries have been plagued by an increase in drug trafficking. Illicit production and the consumption of unprocessed drugs (raw opium, cannabis) have long been a part of everyday life for centuries in the region, since conditions are very favourable for the cultivation of the opium poppy and cannabis. However, the past decade has seen the commercialisation and mass proliferation of drug trafficking, as well as money laundering and the corruption that facilitates it. Drug trafficking has become a political issue that threatens tenuous inter-state relations. Russia and Uzbekistan justify their involvement in Tajik affairs by the necessity to confront drug-related crime there and to prevent the spread of drugs beyond Tajikistan's borders.

There is a strong link between the drug business, arms purchases for conflicts and the activities of terrorists and Islamic fundamentalist groups in the region, according to journalist and author Ahmed Rashid, who has written a number of best-selling books on Afghanistan and Central Asia.

"Although Central Asia has made some advances in regional cooperation to tackle the drugs menace, it suffers from a lack of resources and skilled personnel to staff its narcotics bureaus and customs services," he told IRIN from the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. Ahmed added that international donors have tended to view the regional drugs problem as almost entirely a policing issue with little consideration of broader development and security angles.

Given the region's proximity to the Golden Crescent of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the closure of the traditional route via the Balkans to Western markets, Central Asia has become the main transit point for heroin bound for markets in Russia and Europe. Regional and national drug-enforcement bodies maintain the growing number of heroin seizures, particularly in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, indicate that there are now opium refineries operating both in opium-growing regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan and in growing numbers, along the Central Asian transit route.

Drug-related problems are similar for all Central Asian states, with Tajikistan suffering most because of its proximity to Afghanistan and a weak government, instability and poverty.

KYRGYZSTAN. Kyrgyzstan's location makes it geographically convenient as a transit point for smuggling Afghan and Pakistani opiates northward. Officials report that there are many trafficking groups operating in Kyrgyzstan, all based in the southern city of Osh, which repackage Afghan opiates and smuggle them north using a variety of methods. New luxury cars on the dusty streets and a sharp rise in property prices in Osh are evidence of drug money, local drug enforcement officials say. Recently, police have noticed an increasing trend in the use of individual carriers who cross the mountains with drugs in their belongings, as well as a rising number of low-income women who carry drugs to earn money for survival. The price of opium in Kyrgyzstan has increased significantly during the last few years. Constant arrests of government officials involved in drug trafficking continue to support evidence of narcotics-related corruption.

TAJIKISTAN. Illegal drugs, almost entirely from Afghanistan, flow principally along two routes: through the mountainous Gorno-Badakhshan region in eastern Tajikistan, then north through the city of Osh in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and onto Tashkent and beyond, or into southern Tajikistan and from there to the capital Dushanbe, from which they move by rail, truck or air to Tashkent and beyond. The latter route has become more important due to the negative attitude of the Ismaili people of Gorno-Badakhshan to drug trafficking caused by an edict from their spiritual leader, the Aga Khan, condemning drugs and the relative success of the Aga Khan Foundation in revitalising the Badakhshani economy. Many rogue warlords in southern Tajikistan are believed to be involved in drug trafficking. Tajikistan's economy and banking structures are not conducive to money laundering: the country is isolated, the banking system is undeveloped and the economy lacks extensive international links. However, corruption is widespread in Tajikistan, and plays a significant role in facilitating the illegal drugs trade. The former head of Tajikistan's anti-narcotics agency, Lt. Gen. Gafor Mirzoyev, was arrested in August after police allegedly found him in possession of more than 3,000 weapons, including a Stinger anti-aircraft missile.

UZBEKISTAN. Uzbekistan is part of an attractive and increasingly important shipment route for opium and cannabis products moving from southwest Asia toward Russia and Europe. Uzbekistan has laws against corruption, but none specifically targeting drug-related corruption. Law enforcement officials' low salaries, which are often received several months late, make them susceptible to bribery and other forms of corruption. Uzbekistan sits astride several routes through which southwest Asian opium and cannabis reach Russia and Western Europe. Currently, the key route from Afghanistan is via the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan, through Osh in Kyrgyzstan, and on into eastern Uzbekistan's Andizhan region. A secondary route from Afghanistan, but one of growing significance, is through Turkmenistan, with the drugs generally entering Uzbekistan through the lightly guarded Bukhara region. The direct route across the Afghan-Uzbek border through the city of Termez has become less appealing to traffickers now. Tashkent's concern about instability in Afghanistan has led to a tightening of security along that border, effectively closing it.

TURKMENISTAN. Turkmenistan is used by drug traffickers as a conduit to smuggle illicit drugs to the West, and precursor and essential chemicals to producers in southwest Asia. Currently, the greatest challenge is from international drug smugglers seeking to move opium and/or heroin from Afghanistan to western markets and precursor chemicals to the east. The growing number of casinos and foreign-run luxury hotels raises questions about Turkmenistan's vulnerability to money-laundering activities associated with the narcotics trade, although no official cases have been reported. Seizure patterns indicate that drugs, mainly from Afghanistan, transit through Turkmenistan en route to markets in Russia, Turkey and western Europe.

KAZAKHSTAN. The most popular means for transporting drugs through Kazakhstan is on north-bound trains from Kazakhstan to Moscow, using adolescents and the elderly to smuggle the goods in their baggage or on their persons. Money laundering is easily accomplished in Kazakhstan due to a lack of banking regulations and infrastructure, Andreyev pointed out, underlining that this often goes hand-in-hand with drug trafficking.

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