The Taliban – Opium Connection (March 2008)
The connection between the resurgence of the Taliban and the continuing escalation of poppy cultivation is much more than mere coincidence. The Taliban has always been deeply connected to, and in all reality has controlled, the amounts of opium available in the world black markets. The explosion in poppy cultivation is occurring in Taliban dominated provinces. If Western countries seriously want to eradicate this opium, they are going to have to allocate the troops and resources necessary to stabilize and secure these provinces.
So it is easy to correlate the increasing amount of opium production in Afghanistan to the strengthening and reemergence of Taliban in the past few years not only in the violence in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan as well. Afghanistan’s 2008 opium crop is expected to produce similar yields as last year’s record of 8,243 metric tons, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In 2007, five provinces which are under Taliban influence and control: Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Nimroz and Farah were responsible for 77.7% of the country’s opium cultivation. Helmand province alone produced 53% of the nation’s total crop.
Opium is fuelling the war in Afghanistan and without this crop it would be very difficult for the group to raise the capital needed to finance their war in Afghanistan and to conduct terrorist attacks in Pakistan as well as the Kashmir region. Opium is a big part of what is allowing the Taliban to become a formidable enemy once again after a lengthy rebuilding period following the U.S. and Coalition invasion following 911 that removed the Taliban from control over the country.
“It is quite obvious the Taliban are involved in the drug trade, particularly in the southern provinces,” said Dr Thomas Pietschmann, of the Research and Analysis Section of the UNODC in Vienna, Austria. “We also have information that the farmers were told by the Taliban to grow the opium.”
“There is obviously a link between instability and opium cultivation,” said Jen-Luc Lemahieu, UNODC’s chief of Europe, Central Asia, and West Asia. “The linkage between terrorism and opium cultivation is one of agricultural tax as well as protection money in those areas where the Taliban would be a dominating factor.”
NATO troops in Afghanistan, referred to as the International Security Assistance Force, generally avoid any involvement in eradicating opium. Fighting the Taliban is a full-time job and they are concerned that destroying poppy fields will alienate the population, making it more difficult to gain the cooperation necessary to root out insurgents.
Below is information demonstrating the link between Opium production (right) in Afghanistan and violence resulting in U.S. and Coalition fatalities (left). It only makes sense that a better funded force is better equipped and more formidable.
Coalition Military Fatalities By Year
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Opium Production In Afghanistan
In the past many have stated that the Taliban was anti-poppy production. This is not actually accurate. Even though the Taliban issued laws banning poppy cultivation in July of 2000. That years crop was actually already harvested and ready for sale to the black markets that include smugglers, terrorist organizations, and other crime organizations that distribute the product through their channels. During the ban, the Taliban were selling opium at newly inflated prices and allowed others to sell, process, and transport drugs, with the Taliban taking their cut of the profits through imposed taxes and protection money. The Taliban taxes on cultivation and processing are based upon the Islamic charity taxes of “zakat” and “usher”. Zakat, also referred to as alms or purification, is the third of the Five Pillars of Islam. The Taliban cut the production because the market was flooded with the opium product and the price was falling. The Taliban was using a simple economic rule known as supply vs. demand to drive up the price of the drug.
After the 911 attacks the price of opium plummeted to approximately $100 per kg when wholesalers dumped their stock after the United States attacked the Taliban on October 7, 2001. Opium prices climbed significantly during 2003 and 2004, but have softened again due to bumper crops the last two years. The current average price in Afghanistan for a kilo of dry opium is about $106. The Taliban make their money by levying taxes of 10% on opium cultivation and up to 15% to 20% on processing, trades, smuggling, and distribution. This is in addition to the money they are paid to provide protection for opium fields, heroin processing labs, drug shipments, and narcotics traffickers. In many cases, taxes and fees are paid to the Taliban in drugs, which they sell or store for future sales.
Pakistan is already evolving into the same drug-funded chaos, financing al Qaeda and bin Laden, which its neighbor Afghanistan has already become,” asserts Robert Weiner, former drug policy spokesman for the
White House. The Taliban is after all a Pakistan Intelligence( ISI) creation. What we have been seeing in 2008 is the younger lion flexing it’s power in pride. The Taliban owes much to the sympathizers within the ISI that have supported them in their taking control of Afghanistan in the mid nineties until the end of Taliban rule in 2001. The Taliban has been gaining ground in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are seeking to influence the entire region of the Pashtun people to join their ideology. It is Opium that is funding the movement that it requires to accomplish such a task.
A Highly Recommended Strategy To Slow And Over Time Defeat The Taliban
Based on the correlation, especially in the past few years, between opium production and Taliban violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan it would be wise to eradicate this crop completely from the 5 remaining regions where it is produced at any costs.. Why this is not the main priority of U.S. led coalition forces is surprising. A major effort must be taken to destroy the capacity to grow this product in the region. Every poppy plant destroyed saves American and coalition lives. It would be wise to challenge the Taliban in areas where poppy cultivation is occurring. Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Nimroz and Farah regions need to be the focus of not only routing out the Taliban in these areas but most importantly destroying the poppy fields prior to harvest. A major eradication of this crop is essential to the success moving forward in not only Afghanistan but in the breeding grounds of terrorism in Pakistan as well. We have heard earlier in the war about this being an objective, but it is fading off out of fear of hurting the regions economy. The only economy that would be affected is that of the terrorists. It is irresponsible not to notice this correlation and It is to the point that to choke out the Taliban you have to root out the cultivation of the opium producing poppy plants.
The Plan:
1. Shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. This has to happen. The war in Afghanistan is the war that we are suppose to be fighting. It is where the “Bad Guys” live, eat, sleep, and profit from the Drug Trade. More troops means more security and yes more U.S. casualties regrettably. However it is the only chance to win. To destroy the Taliban means not allowing safe havens outside the mainstream of the country. More troops are needed not as much as to directly fight the Taliban, but rather at this point to destroy the drug trade. Smuggling routes need to be destroyed or under U.S. and NATO control. Intelligence is needed that concentrates on opium and heroin shipments. We need to recognize, understand and then impeded the flow of the product out of the country. If you shift to this strategy of hurting the smugglers who have already paid for the product they will be less willing to take on the risk thus leaving the Taliban with no buyers to distribute it. It will also drastically raise the price of the end product and make it less desirable over time.
2. DO NOT give Afghanistan government an option on the Opium topic. The Afghanistan government either supports the complete removal of the poppy cultivation or they will cease to exists if the coalition forces withdraw. It would take about a week and the Taliban would be back in control. If U.S. and NATO troops are to continue and have any chance at winning the war in Afghanistan control and at least major destruction of it’s main components of the drug trade has to occur. If this does not occur the cycle of opium production leading to Taliban increasing influence and power will continue. The option of using a safe herbicide is available but is being blocked by the Afghanistan government. This is the only viable option to destroy the crops as using the Afghanistan governments technique of a few guys with a sickle is proving ineffective.
3. Convert Farms to Other Profitable Crops Subsidized By The Afghanistan Government. It is impossible to just destroy the crops as over time the problem will reoccur. However, if the options of wheat, corn or other valuable crops can replace the poppy plants there is a better chance for an end to the funding of the Taliban through the Opium trade. The Government can subsidize the farms if they are less profitable for the farmers. It is a lot cheaper to do this and build relationships with remote land owners that are the farmers of the drug crops than it is to continue a war with the Taliban if the drug crops continue to fund the terrorist groups operations. In addition the profitable farmers are a good public relations move and builds trust between the villages and the Kabul based government. It would be one of the first major moves at uniting the people and the Afghanistan government into a cohesive unit.
4. Create a plan that pushes the Taliban even farther South and towards the Pakistan border. This puts even more pressure on the Pakistan government. It will take another empty crop or two in the poppy cultivation to stall out the Taliban. I do believe that the Bush administration is accepting the fact that the new Pakistani government is not trustworthy enough and is not interested in completely rooting out the problem. Every time newly elected President Zardari speaks, it is either about the growing problem of the Taliban that he admits he is losing ground to or he threaten the U.S. for crossing his border to pursue the Taliban. Pakistan has played the role of balancing U.S. wants and Taliban wants for too long. The intelligence agency ISI relations with extremists has crippled the central government even while Musharaff was in office. If we give their creation (Taliban) back to them the last thing they will be able to worry about is our cross border assaults which they should not only supporting but thanking us for. However in the end we will have to trust and work with the new government in Pakistan. The only way to build this trust is through alleviating the threat from the Taliban to their government.
5. After The Taliban Is Out Of Afghanistan Then Is The Time To Work With Pakistan. Once the Taliban has hopefully contained in a much smaller area near the Pakistan border it is time to get cooperation from Pakistan to root out the remaining elements At this point they are pinned down and the entire end of the conflict should be swiftly and well coordinated with U.S. and NATO forces on both sides of the border working with Afghanistan and Pakistan forces. Once the threat from the Taliban is diminished both governments have much education and aid for the areas once under control of the Taliban. The region has always been poor and it is this aspect that has made it easy for extremist elements to recruit from. Poverty breeds terrorism in this part of the world.
March 28, 2002 The Bush administration has decided not to destroy the opium crop in Afghanistan. President Bush, who previously linked the Afghan drug trade directly to terrorism, has now decided not to destroy the Afghan opium crop. “The war in Afghanistan will be decided within the next six weeks based on whether or not the poppy crops go to market,” stated a U.S. intelligence official who recently returned from Afghanistan. The source, who requested that he not be identified, noted that the opium poppy fields are blooming and ready for harvest. U.S. forces could destroy the crops using aerial spraying techniques, but no such actions are planned.
“If the estimated 3,000 tons of opium reaches market, it will lead to a new upsurge in international terrorism and a great loss in international credibility for the Bush administration and the United States’ ability to conduct war in the 21st century. America’s enemies throughout the world from China to North Korea to Iran will be emboldened by this lack of strategic vision and political will,” said the source.
September 12, 2006 U.N. anti-drug chief Antonio Maria Costa said opium production was being used to fund terrorist groups, and that eradicating it was crucial to establishing order in the south. “In the turbulent southern region, counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics efforts must reinforce each other so as to stop the vicious circle of drugs funding terrorists and terrorists protecting drug traffickers,” Costa said. “I call on NATO forces to destroy the heroin labs, disband the open opium bazaars, attack the opium convoys and bring to justice the big traders,” he said. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said it was not planning to play a leading role in the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan
U.N anti-drug chief stated, “Its clear the mission of NATO in Afghanistan has evolved into a full-fledged attempt to eradicate Taliban,” he said, adding that NATO would find it “very difficult” to defeat Taliban and insurgents in the south unless they cracked down on drug traffickers.
October 7, 2007 After the biggest opium harvest in Afghanistan’s history, American officials have renewed efforts to persuade the government here to begin spraying herbicide on opium poppies. Wow, it is about time. Since early this year, Karzai has repeatedly declared his opposition to spraying the poppy fields, whether by crop-dusting airplanes or by eradication teams on the ground. For all the controversy over herbicide use, there is no debate that Afghanistan’s drug problem is out of control. The country now produces 93 percent of the world’s opiates, according to United Nations estimates. Its traffickers are also processing more opium into heroin base there, a shift that has helped to increase Afghanistan’s drug revenues exponentially since the American-led invasion in 2001. A United Nations report in August documented a 17 percent rise in poppy cultivation from 2006 to 2007, and a 34 percent rise in opium production. Perhaps more important for the effort to stabilize Afghanistan, officials said, the Taliban has been reaping a windfall from taxes on the growers and traffickers. It seems like there is a lot of talking and not enough action.
March 26, 2008 Afghanistan’s annual opium crop is expected to rival last year’s record yield to exceed a staggering 8,000 metric tons, or more than 90 percent of global production, according to a U.N. survey released in February, with the bulk being grown in Taliban strongholds. It takes about 10 kilograms of opium to make one kilogram of heroin. However, due to improved quality and higher morphine content, Afghan opium has been converted at a seven to one ratio the last three years. During 2007, 58.4 percent of Afghan opium (8,243 metric tons less 156 tons consumed locally and 105 tons seized) was refined to morphine or heroin, creating 666 tons for export.
Some Other Interesting Facts On The Taliban And The Drug Trade
Cannabis cultivation is expected to increase again this year in 2008, making Afghanistan one of the world’s leading suppliers of hashish. Cannabis production in 2007 was 70,000 hectares, a 40 percent increase over the previous year. Most of the Afghan cannabis is processed into hashish. “In some areas, growing cannabis is as lucrative as growing opium poppy,” Pietschmann said, adding, “Cannabis yields about twice the quantity of drugs per hectare as growing opium.”
