Lecture 8. External Intervention & War on Drugs

Question 1

History Popy cultivation in AFghanistan

Answer 1

• Dates back to the time of Alexander the Great
  1930 & early 1940s: Poppy was produced under government license ( biggest importer US)
• 1940s: US raised growing concerns about illicit opiate production
• 1945: US aid led the government to ban opium altogether
• 1958: The government tried to prevent opium production in Badakhshan
• However:
  o 1970s: Opium bans in Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan displaced production to Afghanistan
   Were the main suppliers of opium
• Early 1970s: Government confirmed the rise in drugs trafficking in Afghanistan & the lack of capacity to control it.
• Late 1970s: Opium was cultivated in half of the provinces in the country
• 1980s: the war against Mujahideen devasted rural subsistence economy
  o Food production felt by 2/3
  o Farmers cultivated to sustain livelihood
  o Cultivation supplied 1/3 of the global supply
• 1990s: Rural economy was further devasted, and country fragmented
  o Strong incentive for cash producing activities
  o Opium became one of the leading exports
  o An average of 2400 mt of opium produced

Question 2

Afghanistan had three comparative advantages
Turning as the leading producer of opium globally during the war years

Answer 2

1. Physical condition:
   - high yield of the crops: welcoming climate. Temperate, warm and less humid weather.
2. Political condition:
   Insecurity & poor instutional weakness and absence of rules and regulations.
3. Economic condition:
   rural poverty prevented the development of alternative licit livelihood

Question 3

Mid 1990s-2001: Taliban arrival to power affect on opium production

Answer 3

• did not stop opium production. By contrast increased significantly
  Early years: poppy cultivation increased, showing 30% rise.
• 1999: Peaked to 4600 mt marking a double growth. This constituted 75% of the world’s supply.

Question 4

Opium ban by Taliban July 2000

Answer 4

Issued a decree ordering the complete cessation of opium production.

Opium was heen as haram –> penatlty

Question 5

Factors behind Opium Ban Taliban

Answer 5

• To gain international recognition
• to attract development aid
• To raise farmgate prices & increase values of stockpiles held by senior Taliban
• They claimed they didnt depend on opium as source of funding

Question 6

Ramifications of the ban

Answer 6

• Poverty rise:
• impoverished the rural subsistence level farmers
• Prices rise
• increased by more than tenfold
• unemployment rise
  -young men working in the farms lost their jobs
• Migration rise
• many migrated to Pakistan/ outside due to poverty
• Opium bride
• breading the informal credit system (Salaam) down

Question 7

Opium brides

Answer 7

households were deeply indebted and had to sell their livestock, lands and even their daughters (opium brides)
* advance payment of $400 for 4kg of opium would mean to pay over $7000 in 3 years.

Question 8

• Rise in poppy cultivation
  o Despite the post-Bonn development, many structural elements of opium remained

Answer 8

• 2005: Poppy cultivation was seen in all 34 provinces
• 2007: National opium production rose substantially
• 2008: 19% decreased in cultivation was due to good yields.
  o Production decreased only by 6%

Question 9

Concluding remarks

*Five shifting policies

Answer 9

o 2001-2002: Hands-off Approach
o 2002-2009: Hands-On Approach
o 2009-2016: Alternative likelihood
o 2017-2019: Intensive airstrike
o 2019-2021: End of War on Drugs

Question 10

Concluding remarks

• Five costs

Answer 10

o 1. Shifting & contradictory policies
o 2. Criminalisation
o 3. Cartelisation
o 4. Corruption
o 5. Power accumulation