Afghanistan: Narcotics and U.S. Policy

Afghanistan: Narcotics and U.S. Policy

Volumn , Issue , 2009, Pages 1-66

  Blanchard, Christopher M ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 38049010765     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: None     Document Type: Book

References (134)

1. Jonathan Goodhand, "From Holy War to Opium War: A Case Study of the Opium Economy in North Eastern Afghanistan," Peacebuilding and Complex Emergencies Working Paper Series, Paper No. 5, University of Manchester, 1999.
2. Frank Kenefick, and Larry Morgan, "Opium in Afghanistan: People and Poppies-The Good Evil," Chemonics International Inc. for USAID, February 5, 2004.
3. Aga Kahn Foundation, "Badakhshan Province: Suggestions for an Area Development Based Counter-narcotics Strategy," April 2004.
4. David Mansfield, "Coping Strategies, Accumulated Wealth and Shifting Markets: The Story of Opium Poppy Cultivation in Badakhshan 2000-2003," Agha Khan Development Network, January 2004.
5. David Mansfield, "Alternative Development in Afghanistan: The Failure of Quid Pro Quo," International Conference on the Role of Alternative Development in Drug Control and Development Cooperation, January 2002.
6. Adam Pain, "The Impact of the Opium Poppy Economy on Household Livelihoods: Evidence from the Wakhan Corridor and Khustak Valley in Badakhshan," Aga Kahn Development Network, Badakhshan Programme, January 2004.
7. UNODC, "An Analysis of the Process of Expansion of Opium Cultivation to New Districts in Afghanistan," Strategic Study #1, June 1998.
8. UNODC, "The Dynamics of the Farmgate Opium Trade and the Coping Strategies of Opium Traders," Strategic Study #2, October 1998.
9. UNODC, "The Role of Opium as an Informal Credit," Preliminary Strategic Study #3, January 1999.
10. UNODC, "Access to Labour: The Role of Opium in the Livelihood Strategies of Itinerant Harvesters Working in Helmand Province, Afghanistan," Strategic Study #4, June 1999.
11. UNODC, "The Role of Women in Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan," Strategic Study #6, June 2000.
12. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)/Government of Afghanistan Counternarcotics Directorate (CND), Afghanistan Opium Survey 2004, Nov. 2004.
13. Jonathan C. Randal, "Afghanistan's Promised War on Opium," Washington Post, Nov. 2, 1978, and Stuart Auerbach, "New Heroin Connection: Afghanistan and Pakistan Supply West With Opium," Washington Post, Oct. 11, 1979.
14. UNODC/Afghan Gov., Afghanistan Opium Survey 2004, Nov. 2004, pp. 105-7.
15. Barnett Rubin, "Road to Ruin: Afghanistan's Booming Opium Industry," Center for International Cooperation, Oct. 7, 2004, and the World Bank Country Economic Report-Afghanistan: State Building, Sustaining Growth, and Reducing Poverty, Sept. 9, 2004.
16. Author interviews with U.S., U.N., and coalition officials, Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 2005.
17. In 1978, pro-Communist Afghan officials reportedly requested "a lot of assistance from abroad, especially economic help, to help replace farmers' incomes derived from opium poppy cultivation." Randal, Washington Post, Nov. 2, 1978.
18. Agreement on Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan Pending the Reestablishment of Permanent Government Institutions The Bonn Agreement], Dec. 5, 2001.
19. Arthur Bonner, "Afghan Rebel's Victory Garden: Opium," New York Times, June 18, 1986, and Mary Thornton, "Sales of Opium Reportedly Fund Afghan Rebels," Washington Post, Dec. 17, 1983.
20. James Rupert and Steve Coll, "U.S. Declines to Probe Afghan Drug Trade: Rebels, Pakistani Officers Implicated," Washington Post, May 13, 1990
21. Jim Lobe, "Drugs: U.S. Looks Other Way In Afghanistan and Pakistan," Inter Press Service, May 18, 1990
22. John F. Burns, "U.S. Cuts Off Arms to Afghan Faction," New York Times, Nov. 19, 1989
23. Kathy Evans, "Money is the Drug" The Guardian (UK), Nov. 11, 1989
24. Lawrence Lifschultz, "Bush, Drugs and Pakistan: Inside the Kingdom of Heroin," The Nation, Nov. 14, 1988.
25. The Taliban government collected an agricultural tax (approximately 10%, paid in kind), known as ushr, and a traditional Islamic tithe known as zakat (variable percentages). The Taliban also taxed opium traders and transport syndicates involved in the transportation of opiates. UNODC, "The Opium Economy in Afghanistan," pp. 92, 127-8.
26. UNODC, "The Opium Economy in Afghanistan," p. 92.
27. In December 2001, then Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Rand Beers stated that the Taliban had not banned opium cultivation "out of kindness, but because they wanted to regulate the market: They simply produced too much opium." Marc Kaufman, "Surge in Afghan Poppy Crop Is Forecast," Washington Post, Dec. 25, 2001. See table 1 and UNODC, Opium Economy in Afghanistan, p. 57.
28. The Bonn Agreement, Dec. 5, 2001.
29. Analysis in this report relating to the motives and methods of Afghan farmers, land owners, and traffickers is based on the findings of the UNODC's "Strategic Studies" series on Afghanistan's opium economy and a series of commissioned development reports by David Mansfield, the Aga Khan Foundation, Frank Kenefick and Larry Morgan, Adam Pain, and others. UNODC Strategic Studies reports are available at http://www.unodc.org/ pakistan/en/publications.html]. Complete citations are provided in Appendix A.
30. David Mansfield, "The Economic Superiority of Illicit Drug Production: Myth and Reality," International Conference on Alternative Development in Drug Control and Cooperation, Aug. 2001.
31. UNODC, "An Analysis of the Process of Expansion of Opium Poppy Cultivation to New Districts in Afghanistan," June 1998.
32. UNODC, "Afghanistan Opium Survey 2003," p. 8.
33. UNODC, "The Opium Economy in Afghanistan," pp. 129-40, 165-8.
34. UNODC, "The Opium Economy in Afghanistan," pp. 139, 158.
35. "The involvement of Afghan groups/individuals is basically limited to the opium production, the trade of opium within Afghanistan, the transformation of some of the opium into morphine and heroin, and to some extent, the trafficking of opiates to neighboring countries." UNODC, The Opium Economy in Afghanistan, p. 64.
36. Tamara Makarenko, "Bumper Afghan Narcotics Crop Indicates Resilience of Networks," Jane's Intelligence Review, May 1, 2002.
37. Testimony of Robert B. Charles, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, House International Relations Committee, Sept. 23, 2004.
38. UNODC, "The Opium Economy in Afghanistan," p. 69, and Report of the Secretary-General on the Situation in Afghanistan and its Implications for International Peace and Security, Aug. 12, 2004.
39. UNODC/CND, Afghanistan Opium Survey 2004, p. 66.
40. The Afghan government's Central Eradication Force reportedly was "rocketed by furious villagers" during a 2004 eradication mission in Wardak province outside of Kabul. Reuters, Pressure on Karzai as Afghan Drug Problem Worsens, Oct. 5, 2004.
41. Agence France Presse, "Afghanistan Deploys 67 Million Dollars in War on Drugs," Apr. 11, 2002
42. Anwar Iqbal, "War on Dug Begins in Afghanistan," United Press International, Apr. 10, 2002.
43. Department of State, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Mar. 2005.
44. Agence France Presse, "Curbing Rampant Afghan Opium Trade Will Take Karzai Years," Dec. 5, 2004.
45. New York Times, "7 Are Killed in a Clash of Afghan Militias," Feb. 9, 2004, and FBIS IAP20040707000101-Afghanistan Briefing, July 5-7, 2004.
46. Victoria Burnett, "Outlook Uncertain: Can Afghanistan Take the Next Step to Building a State?" Financial Times, Aug. 19, 2004; Carol Harrington, "Ruthless Dostum a Rival for Karzai," Toronto Star, Sept. 20, 2004
47. Jurgen Dahlkamp, Susanne Koelbl, and Georg Mascolo, (tr. Margot Bettauer Dembo), "Bundeswehr: Poppies, Rocks, Shards of Trouble," Der Spiegel Germany], Nov. 10, 2003.
48. Human Rights Watch, "The Rule of the Gun." Sept. 2004.
49. Anne Barnard and Farah Stockman, "U.S. Weighs Role in Heroin War in Afghanistan," Boston Globe, Oct. 20, 2004.
50. World Bank, State Building..., p. 87.
51. International Monetary Fund, IMF Country Report No. 05/33-Islamic State of Afghanistan: 2004 Article IV Consultation and Second Review, Feb. 2005.
52. Author interviews with U.S. officials in Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 2005.
53. Liz Sly, "Opium Cash Fuels Terror, Experts Say," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 9, 2004
54. John Fullerton, "Live and Let Live for Afghan Warlords, Drug Barons," Reuters, Feb. 5, 2002.
55. U.S. v. Bashir Noorzai, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, S1 05 Cr. 19, Apr. 25, 2005.
56. See U.S. v. Baz Mohammed, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, S14 03 Cr. 486 DC], Oct. 25, 2005.
57. Tim McGirk, "Terrorism's Harvest," Time Magazine Asia], Aug. 2, 2004.
58. Haji Bashir reportedly described his time with U.S. forces in the following terms: "I spent my days and nights comfortably... I was like a guest, not a prisoner." CBS Evening News, "Newly Arrived US Army Soldiers Find it Difficult to Adjust...," Feb. 7, 2002.
59. Steve Inskeep, "Afghanistan's Opium Trade," National Public Radio, Apr. 26, 2002.
60. Mark Corcoran, "America's Blind Eye," Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Foreign Correspondent, Apr. 10, 2002.
61. Defense Department response to CRS inquiry, Nov. 12, 2004.
62. Drug Enforcement Agency, "The Availability of Southwest Asian Heroin in the United States," May 1996.
63. Drug Enforcement Agency, "Heroin Signature Program: 2002," Mar. 2004.
64. In 1985, the DEA developed evidence against a wealthy Afghan national alleged to have been "involved in supplying Afghan rebels with weapons in exchange for heroin and hashish, portions of which were eventually distributed in Western Europe and the United States." See Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control-Annual Report 1985, Dec. 19, 1986, p. 58
65. U.S. v. Roeffen, et al. U.S. District Court of New Jersey (Trenton), 86-00013-01] and U.S. v. Wali 860 F.2d 588 (3d Cir.1988)].
66. Marcus W. Brauchli, "Pakistan's Wild Frontier Breeds Trouble-Drugs, Terrorism Could Overflow Into Other Regions," Wall Street Journal, June 3,1993; Kathy Gannon, "Pakistan Extradites Suspected Drug Dealers to U.S.," Associated Press, Oct. 16, 1993
67. Jeanne King, "U.S. Denies Bail to Alleged Pakistani Drug Baron," Reuters, Dec. 21, 1995; and Ron Synovitz, "U.S. Indicts 11 In Connection With Drug Ring," RFE/RL, Sep. 17, 2003.
68. U.S. v. Afridi, et. al., U.S. District Court of Maryland, (Baltimore), AW-03-0211].
69. Testimony of DEA Administrator Karen Tandy before the House International Relations Committee, Feb. 12, 2004.
70. James W. Crawley, "U.S. Warships Pinching Persian Gulf Drug Trade," San Diego Union-Tribune, February 9, 2004
71. Tony Perry, "2 Convicted of Seeking Missiles for Al Qaeda Ally," Los Angeles Times, Mar. 4, 2004.
72. Defense Department officials report that steps are taken to educate U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan about the dangers of narcotics use and to monitor and prevent drug use. Testimony of Lt. Gen. Walter L. Sharp, Director of Strategic Plans (J-5), Before the House International Relations Committee, Sept. 23, 2004.
73. Agence France Presse, "Russia plans anti-drug centre in Kabul," Mar. 29, 2005.
74. House of Commons (UK)-Foreign Affairs Committee, Seventh Report, July 21, 2004.
75. For more information see Tamara Makarenko, "Crime, Terror and the Central Asian Drug Trade," Harvard Asia Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 3 (Summer 2002)
76. Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) Report, "Central Asia: Regional Impact of the Afghan Heroin Trade ," U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Aug. 2004. Available at http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/opium/ regOvr.asp].
77. UNODC, "The Opium Economy in Afghanistan," p. 33, 35.
78. For more information, see the World Health Organization's Epidemiological Fact Sheets on HIV/AIDS at http://www.who.int/GlobalAtlas/PDFFactory/HIV/index.asp]
79. Julie Stachowiak and Chris Beyrer, HIV Follows Heroin Trafficking Routes," Open Society Institute-Central Eurasia Project, Available at http://www.eurasianet.org /health.security/ presentations/hiv_trafficking.shtml].
80. For more on Central Asian security and public health, including information on narcotics trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism see CRS Report RL30294, Central Asia's Security: Issues and Implications for U.S. Interests, and CRS Report RL30970, Health in Russia and Other Soviet Successor States: Context and Issues for Congress, both by Jim Nichol.
81. IRIN Report, "Tajikistan: Stemming the Heroin Tide," OCHA, Sept. 13, 2004. Available at http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/ opium/regTaj.asp].
82. Agence France Presse, "Tajiks to Take Over Patrolling Half of Tajik-Afghan Border From Russians," Oct. 1, 2004.
83. Rukhshona Najmiddinova, "Tajikistan Arrests Anti-Drug Agency Head," Associated Press, Aug. 6, 2004.
84. Moscow Interfax, "Russia Says Around 9 Tonnes of Afghan Drugs Seized in International Operation," Nov. 13, 2005. FBIS Document CEP20051113029009.
85. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain, "Transcript: Hearing of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the House International Relations Committee," Federal News Service, Mar. 20, 2003.
86. Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, Yale University Press, 2000, pp. 120-2
87. Barnett Rubin, The Fragmentation of Afghanistan, Yale University Press, 2002, pp. 197-8.
88. Rubin, Testimony Before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East and Asian and Pacific Affairs, Mar. 7, 1990.
89. Jason Barnes, "The Desert Village that Feeds UK's Heroin Habit," The Observer (UK), Dec. 12, 1999.
90. The Bonn Agreement, Dec. 5, 2001.
91. Afghan Religious Scholars Urge End To Opium Economy, Associated Press, Aug. 3, 2004.
92. Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, National Drug Control Strategy, May 18, 2003. Available at http://www.cnd.gov.af/ndcs.html].
93. Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, The 1384 (2005) Counter Narcotics Implementation Plan, Feb. 16, 2005. Available at http://www.cnd.gov.af/imp_plan.htm].
94. Statement of James E. Stahlman, Assistant Operations Officer, U.S. Central Command, Committee on House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, May 10, 2005.
95. Agence France Presse, "Afghanistan Launches Poppy Eradication Force," Feb. 2, 2005.
96. David Shelby, "United States to Help Afghanistan Attack Narcotics Industry," Washington File, U.S. Department of State, Nov. 17, 2004.
97. "Afghan Religious Scholars Urge End To Opium Economy," Associated Press, Aug. 3, 2004.
98. Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal. Agence France Presse, "Afghan Drugs Kingpin Seized by US was Untouchable in Afghanistan: Experts," Apr. 27, 2005.
99. Author interview with U.S. officials, Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 2005 and Washington, D.C., May 2005.
100. Sources: Author interviews with USAID officials, Kabul, Afghanistan, January 2005
101. USAID Alternative Livelihoods Conference, Washington, D.C., May 2005.
102. USAID has established a "Good Performer's Fund" to reward districts that end cultivation with high visibility infrastructure development projects.
103. USAID, Alternative Livelihoods Update: Issue 3, Apr. 1-15, 2005; author consultation with USAID Afghanistan Desk Office, Jan. 2006.
104. Author consultation with USAID Afghanistan Desk Office, Jan. 2006.
105. DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy, House Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, Feb. 26, 2004.
106. Statement of Michael Braun, Chief of Operations-Drug Enforcement Agency, Before the House Committee on International Relations, Mar. 17, 2005.
107. Defense Department response to CRS inquiry, Nov. 12, 2004.
108. Testimony of Thomas W. O'Connell, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-intensity Conflict Before House International Relations Committee, Feb. 12, 2004
109. Defense Department response to CRS inquiry, Nov. 12, 2004.
110. Statement of Lennard J. Wolfson, Assistant Deputy Director for Supply Reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Committee on House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, May 10, 2005.
111. Philip Webster, "4,000 Troops to be Sent to Troubled Afghan Province," The Times (London), Jan. 25, 2006.
112. Author conversation with DEA official, Washington, D.C., May 2005.
113. National Drug Control Strategy, Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, May 18, 2003.
114. "Poppy cultivation is likely to continue until responsible governmental authority is established throughout the country and until rural poverty levels can be reduced via provision of alternative livelihoods and increased rural incomes... Drug processing and trafficking can be expected to continue until security is established and drug law enforcement capabilities can be increased. " State Department, INCSR, Mar. 2005.
115. Syed Saleem Shahzad, "U.S. Turns to Drug Baron to Rally Support," Asia Times, Dec. 4, 2001
116. Charles Clover and Peronet Despeignes, "Murder Undermines Karzai Government," Financial Times, July 8, 2002
117. Susan B. Glasser, "U.S. Backing Helps Warlord Solidify Power," Washington Post, Feb. 18, 2002
118. Ron Moreau and Sami Yousafzai, with Donatella Lorch, "Flowers of Destruction," Newsweek, July 14, 2003
119. Andrew North, "Warlord Tells Police Chief to Go," BBC News, July 12, 2004
120. Steven Graham, "Group: Warlords to Hinder Afghan Election," Associated Press, Sept. 28, 2004
121. Anne Barnard and Farah Stockman, "U.S. Weighs Role in Heroin War in Afghanistan," Boston Globe, Oct. 20, 2004.
122. Rubin, "Road to Ruin: Afghanistan's Booming Opium Industry," Oct. 7, 2004.
123. Testimony of Mary-Beth Long, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics before the House Committee on International Relations, Mar. 17, 2005.
124. "U.S. CENTCOM views narcotrafficking as a significant obstacle to the political and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan... Local terrorist and criminal leaders have a vested interest in using the profits from narcotics to oppose the central government and undermine the security and stability of Afghanistan." Major Gen. John Sattler, USMC, Dir. of Operations-US CENTCOM before the House Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, Apr. 21, 2004.
125. Afghanistan's National Drug Control Strategy expects that farmers with a "legacy of debt" will find that their "situation will be exacerbated by eradication efforts." A September 2004 British government report argues that "if not targeted properly, eradication can have the reverse effect and encourage farmers to cultivate more poppy to pay off increased debts." Response of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (UK) to the Seventh Report from the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Sep. 2004.
126. Office of the Spokesperson to the President-Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, "About the Commitment by the Government of Afghanistan to the Fight Against Narcotics and Concerns About the Aerial Spraying of Poppy Fields."
127. David Brunnstrom, "Afghans Committed to Drug War But Against Spraying," Reuters, Nov. 19, 2004
128. Stephen Graham, "Afghan Government Concerned at Spraying of Opium Crops by Mystery Aircraft," Associated Press, Nov. 30, 2004.
129. Carlotta Gall, "Afghan Poppy Farmers Say Mystery Spraying Killed Crops," New York Times, Dec. 5, 2004
130. Reuters, "U.S. Says Drug Lords May Have Sprayed Afghan Opium," Dec. 2, 2004.
131. Nicholas Rufford, "Secret Bio-weapon Can Wipe Out Afghan Heroin," Sunday Times (London), May 26, 2002
132. Antony Barnett, "UK in Secret Biological War on Drugs," Observer (London), Sept. 17, 2000
133. Juanita Darling, "Fungi May Be the Newest Recruits in War on Drugs Colombia," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 30, 2000.
134. According to a USDA official, "The Department of Agriculture, as an agency, is opposed to the idea of using mycoherbicides in Afghanistan]: The science is far from complete; There are real environmental and possible human health negative implications; There are very real image problems... the use of any agent like this would be portrayed as biological warfare." USDA response to CRS inquiry, Oct. 19, 2004.