One day while talking with a friend about the dilemma of drugs andopium cultivation in the country and how they have dealt blow to Afghanpeople more than any other nation in the world, he put an obsessing issue. Hehas grown up in the neighboring country, Iran, where due todiscriminative propaganda of state-run media, Afghans are blamed forany bad thing you can name, including drug trafficking.
He quotedhis secondary school teacher saying that Islamic Republic had planned to establish anatmosphere to get Afghan refugees addicted the most in order to grow adomestic market for drug consumption inside Afghanistan.
However, he had no document for his claim and I do not want to go intodetails of the Islamic Republic's policy. But what I want to share withyou is that his claim seemed a bit absurd that day because I wasin view that unless regional and global anti-narcotic struggle starts,the dilemma would not be resolved and, moreover, the domestic marketwould not grow to an extent to wind down its profitable globalbusiness.
In another word, I thought that such a policy would notprove effective in opium export and Iran, if wanted to get rid of thisdisastrous phenomenon, had no choice other than tightening up relationwith Afghanistan and cooperating with their Afghan counterparts tohunt drug traffickers.
But a report released previously in the country made me change my mindand think that perhaps such policy might work. The report said thatmore than 800kg of drugs are consumed daily just in Kabul city.
Assuming that a person consumes a gram of drug daily, the totalconsumer becomes 800,000 thousand people. Putting it in another way,if the population of Kabul assumed, because there is no accuratestatistic, to be 4 million, than from every four persons walking in Kabulstreets one must be addict to at least one type of drug. (It isnoteworthy to say that I do not know how the above data about theconsumption of the drug is collected).
Even discrediting the above report, there is no doubt that overallnumber of drug consumers crossed a million. Years of counter-narcoticstruggle seem to have given no intended result. One of the measuresthat Afghan government has tried is anti-narcotic regionalmobilization. Several times, trilateral meetingswere held in Kabul overcombating drug-trafficking among Tehran, Islamabad and Kabulofficials. There is no doubt that Afghanistan is on top list of opiumproducers, but all countries, including our neighbors, can be blamed.
Opium is not the only drug that takes lives of thousands of people;rather there are chemical drugs which are far more dangerous.
Many maintain that drug trafficking and opium cultivation are providingfuels for Taliban-led insurgencies. Certainly, eliminationof narcotics might not cause drying out of Taliban roots in Afghan soil,but it certainly would be a major financial blow to militants' emptybudget box. It also should be noted down that a safe and peacefulAfghanistan will remain an illusion if opium production is notcompletely eradicated.
This vicious phenomenon is not just fuelling militancy in the country.It does huge vice to Afghan people and Afghanistan. Many times, Ireally become amazed how some mistakes remain as a constant indignity that cannot be removed easily: And how something canhave the potential to undermine all historic pride of an individual oreven a nation.
And more unfortunate, how the invisible hands areyielding and accumulating giant profits from an undignified toiling ofsomeone else? The international "attitude court" is not able to identifythose invisible actors and apply rule against the committers of theaction.
Presently, we are facing similar situation. I am not really trying tovindicate the activities of those people who are engaged in cultivating and growing opium. What I am trying to say is "poppycultivation" actually gives no profit to miser Afghan farmers. Just goto suburban areas of Helmand Province, and witness how much the lifeconditions have changed.
These regions are soils which have set the country as the first largest producer of opium. But the life conditionis pathetic. People there are wrangling with life and death. Theirbiggest desire is a filled-stomach one day.
They hardly try to providethe essential goods for their family members, like clothing, shelterand food, but unfortunately they are not able to do so. But,meanwhile, global mediais pointing fingers towards Afghan citizens,everywhere they go, a separate body check-up is held for them.
It is terrible!I am also in view that strategy of Afghan government andinternational community has been totally inefficient, in comparison toamounts of cash they pumped to provinces like Helmand and strugglesthey made. There are actually four measures that were completelyout of strategic framework of government for holding ananti-poppy campaign or less effortswere made to help them succeed. To endcultivation, we need to take measures which would help in lesseningand eliminating markets for supply of narcotics as well as seal offthe route through which drugs are exported.
No doubt, demand wouldalways be there and we cannot do anything with that. What Afghangovernment and its international allies could do during past years wasengage neighboring countries through diplomatic bargaining orpressures. A joint effort by neighboring countries, from wheretrafficking is carried out can undermine drug production.
A major portion of trafficking is made through borders of Iran andPakistan. Pakistan itself has become famous as a weak state, and it isin need of assistance of international community. Iran has a largeborder with Afghanistan. I do not forget once an Iranian official wascomplaining about measures of Afghan government regarding bordercontrol. He was saying that larger portion of Afghan borderactually had not even a single police to oversee. I accept theallegation and assume it right. But something should be noticed by ourneighboring brothers; Afghan government is established only few yearsago and does not have the potential to hold all responsibilities.
The best way to control opium cultivation and drug trafficking is tobelieve strongly that drugs are lethal for all and they should be erasedby all cost. Trust-based relation should grow within security agenciesof these countries. In such situation, it would be easy as well aspossible to bring down traffickers which necessarily can endelimination of opium cultivation.