Development News from Afghanistan

By Jill McGivering
BBC News, Gereshk, Helmand province
Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Officials in southern Afghanistan say they have seized almost 18 tonnes of poppy seed – potentially enough to produce 30 tonnes of heroin.

The seizure in Gereshk in Helmand province has been described as the biggest of its kind to date.

The operation was part of an aggressive counter-narcotics strategy launched by Helmand’s new governor, Gulab Mangal.

If cultivated, the seeds would have produced enough opium for heroin with a street value in Europe of $1.5bn.

It was enough seed to plant 7,000 hectares of poppies – by comparison last year law enforcement teams here eradicated less than 3,000 hectares.

This is the first time counter-narcotics police have carried out a search outside the main provincial town, Lashkar Gah.

It is also the first time they have searched for seeds in an attempt to pre-empt the planting season which is just beginning.

Helmand governor Gulab Mangal took office earlier this year.

He is trying to increase public education, describing poppies as a product which is both damaging to local populations and which raises funds for the Taleban.

He has just launched a massive programme to distribute free wheat in Helmand to encourage farmers to switch from poppies.

But some farmers say they have to grow poppies to survive, because other options like wheat simply do not bring enough income.

By Jonathon Burch

KABUL, Nov 11 (Reuters) – A bumper fruit harvest in Afghanistan this year has led to a surplus for domestic markets and with difficulties in exporting the goods, growers could return to harvesting opium, experts and farmers say.

Afghanistan used to produce some of the region’s best fruits and nuts but insecurity led farmers to switch to opium, a crop that funds the Taliban insurgency, adding to insecurity and further boosting drug production.

While cultivation of opium, the raw ingredient for heroin, decreased this year, Afghanistan still produces some 90 percent of the world’s supply of the drug.

Encouraged by international aid groups, some farmers have switched from growing opium to fruit and other products in recent years, but with little financial benefit and export problems, many could revert to more lucrative illicit crops.

“Farmers will always go for products with the highest benefit, especially with all the post-harvest problems,” Mohammad Aqa, assistant representative for the U.N.’s food and agriculture organisation in Afghanistan (FAO), told Reuters.

But problems with processing, packaging and storing produce, along with poor access to international markets, means many farmers are not even able to cover their costs, said Aqa.

A fruit surplus is unlikely to meet the needs of millions of Afghans facing severe food shortages this winter as droughts in many areas of the country have hurt the staple wheat harvest.

“GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE”

Many farmers around the capital are feeling the strain and calling on the government to do more.

“If the government doesn’t find us an export market and we don’t benefit from our agricultural products and suffer financial harm like past years … then we will have to return to poppy farming,” said Safatullah Khan, a farmer on the outskirts of Kabul.

Due to the problems with exporting goods and the unregulated import of products already grown in Afghanistan, such as apples and grapes from China and Pakistan, farmers are forced to sell at very low prices, said Aqa.

A 7 kg (15 lb) bag of apples costs just $3 in any of the capital’s fruit markets.

“I agree with the farmers, they need more support. The government needs to at least limit these kind of imports … in order to make them (farmers) competitive in the international market,” said Aqa. “It’s not a good time to introduce a free market in Afghanistan at the moment.”

The government’s export agency (EPAA) says it is aware of the problem and is working on finding a solution.

“We know that Afghan fruit production reached high levels this year, especially apples. These high levels of production have created problems and worries in society,” said Rohullah Ahmadzai, spokesman for EPAA.

“I know the sharp increase in production within the market is worrying the farmers, but we will solve this issue soon,” he said. He added that despite problems in exporting, $21 million worth of fruit was exported from Kandahar province alone. (Editing by Valerie Lee)

• Kabul steps up campaign to restore cultural heritage
• Thousands of treasures repatriated from abroad
    * Helena Smith in Athens
    * The Guardian,
    * Thursday October 30 2008
 
It has been described as one of the great acts of cultural desecration of modern times, a rampant pillage that threatens to denude a country of much of its fabulous heritage. But now Afghanistan is stepping up an ambitious campaign to stop the looting of the country’s archaeological sites, with a programme to build museums, train archaeologists and repatriate the billions of dollars worth of stolen antiquities that have been spirited through its porous borders during the past seven years.
 
“We’re in the process of building 10 provincial museums, training more archaeologists, repatriating stolen treasures and making a red-list of [looted] art works,” the deputy culture minister, Omar Sultan, said during an official visit to Greece.
 
“But we also desperately need to educate young Afghans about the importance of their culture,” he told the Guardian. “There is a whole generation out there who have only ever known weapons and war. If they are sensitised, if they can be made to feel there is a cultural heritage of which they can be proud, they can influence their parents who help the gangs.”
 
The authorities are starting to make progress with repatriating stolen artefacts retrieved from overseas: in the past year, thousands of treasures have been repatriated from Denmark and Switzerland. Four tonnes of valuable items, holed up at Heathrow airport since 2005, are also due to be returned in coming weeks.
 
But formidable challenges still face Sultan and his colleagues. Attempts to hire extra guards to protect sites have failed because the authorities were unable to pay them more than $10 (£6) a month, or even equip them with telephones and cars. The security vacuum has allowed illegal smugglers to prosper. Working at night, gangs of Afghans in the pay of warlords and plunderers have turned swaths of the country into the moonscapes that now stand as testimony to the cultural desecration.
 
“People are hungry and they’re desperate, and smugglers play on that,” said Sultan, a Greek-trained archaeologist. “There are heroes in Afghanistan who have worked without any credit to save our treasures. But I worry that if this continues, looters will take everything – such is the scale of the organised crime.”
 
He is appealing for international funding to provide stronger protection for important sites and better equipment to guards. He also wants more countries to follow Greece’s lead in offering scholarships to trainee archaeologists. Afghanistan has only six trained archaeologists.
 
Even before the 2001 US-led invasion, nearly three decades of war and the fundamentalist Islamist rule of the Taliban had resulted in terrible loss to Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, most notably with the looting of the national museum in Kabul.
 
The destruction by the Taliban of the giant Buddhas carved into the mountainside at Bamiyan, with dynamite, picks and axes in 2001 – monuments the Afghans, in collaboration with international conservationists, are trying to restore – highlighted the country’s plight.
 
Sultan said it would be a big moment for Afghanistan when the relics currently impounded at Heathrow are returned. The objects date mostly from the great Bronze Age of the Bactrian civilisation in the second millennium BC, as well as the later pre-Islamic period.
 
“It will be a great moment for us when they return from Britain,” Sultan said. “I always say that our cultural heritage doesn’t just belong to us – it belongs to the world, and that’s why I hope the world will come and help us. About 90% of what we have underground has still not been discovered, and it needs to be protected.”
Backstory
 
Afghanistan has some of the finest treasures and Hellenistic sites in the world, thanks in part to Alexander the Great, who invaded in 337BC. The looted Bactrian treasures include gold discs, elaborate jewels and gold-carved weapons. The national museum saw 70% of its treasures lost to looters in 1993. Antiquities are frequently smuggled through Pakistan and Iran. Treasures seized at Heathrow in 2005 included hundreds of jewels, axe-heads, stone statues, gold ornaments, ivory games pieces, ceramics, bronze seals and other ancient objects.
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2008

Tue Oct 28, 2008
 
KABUL (AFP) – The fall in opium production in Afghanistan this year should be followed by the delivery of promised aid, the UN drugs office said, calling for more better targeted anti-drugs messages.
 
The drop of one fifth in the area under cultivation between 2007 and 2008 was due to farmers deciding not to plant the crop rather than government attempts to eradicate opium, a UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) representative said.
 
“There is always the danger of a backlash,” Christina Oguz warned.
 
“For example, in Nangarhar (province), poppy cultivation is going up and down — down when promises are made, up when the aid is not delivered.”
 
Oguz stressed that the anti-drugs campaign should be adapted to the different local contexts in Afghanistan, which produces more than 90 percent of the world’s opium, the raw ingredient of heroin.
 
The “religion message” — that opium is not allowed in Islam — carries for example different weight in different areas.
 
In Herat in the west and Nangarhar in the east it is powerful, Oguz said.
 
In the far northern province of Badakhsan, it is less so, with people more convinced by the links between opium and unrest.
 
In a country where television coverage is confined largely to towns and many people cannot read because of high illiteracy rates, “the most powerful media communication is word of mouth,” the official said.
 
“We believe influential public figures and mullahs should be encouraged much more to spread these messages,” she added.
 
Farmers generally do not see the link between opium and terrorism, Oguz said.
 
But according to the UN and Washington, a good part of the profits from the drugs go towards the Taliban who also earn money from protecting fields and trafficking routes.
 
“Poppy cultivation is no longer an Afghan problem,” Oguz added.
 
“It’s a problem in the south and the southwest,” she said, pointing out that 98 percent of production is concentrated in seven out of 34 provinces which are also among those most affected by the insurgency.
 
Poverty is the main motivation for opium production, the UNODC representative said.
 
“Many people use opium as the main source of cash income, they rely more on opium sales than on wheat production to satisfy their needs.”
 
UNODC figures say that despite the 19 percent drop in the area used to grow opium this year, output only dipped six percent because of better yields per hectare with an estimated annual harvest of 7,700 tonnes.
 
Washington issued more optimistic figures last week, saying it estimated output had dropped to 5,500 tonnes this year compared with 8,000 in 2007.
Copyright © 2008 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.

Alim Hanif

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 5 (UPI) — A 65-year-old judge in Afghanistan, who headed an appeals court dealing with drug cases, was killed in Kabul, authorities said.

Central Narcotics Tribunal Appeals Court Judge Alim Hanif was shot as he was leaving for work and later died at a Kabul hospital, the BBC reported.

No details were immediately available on the shooting but the report said his killing may have meant to be a warning to those who want to eradicate the country’s drug trade.

Court officials described Hanif as being committed to dealing with drug problems in the country, taking a tough stance on drug trafficking and imposing stiff sentences on offenders, the report said.

By Jonathon Burch

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Aug 4 (Reuters) – The Afghan and U.S. governments have broken ground on an agricultural centre and airport in the volatile southern province of Helmand, aimed at helping farmers grow food crops instead of opium poppies.

Helmand is one of the most fertile provinces in Afghanistan, but much of its agriculture is devoted to poppy farming and the province produced about half the world’s opium last year.

Fighting between Taliban insurgents and mainly British and U.S. troops in Helmand makes it hard to transport perishable produce to market, while traffickers collect opium directly from the farms or farmers can safely store the drug for some 20 years.

The new Lashkar Gah airport will be the first purely civilian-controlled airport in troubled southern Afghanistan and will also boast a centre for processing and storing food products before they are flown to domestic and international markets.

“This is a deeply important project for Helmand,” said Gulab Mangal, governor of Helmand, at a ceremony on Sunday afternoon attended by the deputy U.S. Ambassador and Afghan ministers.

“Reliable air transportation for both cargo and civilians is a critical component of developing Helmand province’s economy,” he said.

FRUIT AND NUTS, NOT DRUGS

The ground-breaking ceremony was held at the provincial capital’s existing airfield, a dirt air strip with a small, dilapidated terminal building built in the 1960s.

The entire project will cost $45 million and will be mostly funded by the U.S. development agency, USAID. The Afghan government is expected to contribute around $5 million.

Some $18 million will be allocated to paving the 2,200-metre (yard) runway, expanding and rehabilitating the terminal and constructing the agricultural centre.

The remainder will be spent on agricultural development in the province, ensuring markets for the farmers and providing technical assistance.

Helmand used to produce some of the region’s best dried fruits, pomegranates and nuts. But insecurity has led farmers to switch to opium, a crop that also funds the Taliban insurgency, adding to insecurity and further boosting drug production.

The airport aims to open up markets for farmers to transport “high value” products such as pomegranates and raisins to international markets, a USAID official told Reuters.

The airport and agricultural development in the province is part of a larger counter-narcotics strategy to get farmers to switch from growing opium.

The Afghan government will be in charge of managing the new airport as well as providing security. A new police station and Helmand’s first fire station will be built adjacent to the airport by the British Provincial Reconstruction Team, which will be able to serve not only the airport but the city itself.

Domestic passenger flights are expected to begin once the runway is completed this winter, providing a secure alternative to travelling by road.

Road travellers are often attacked by Taliban and bandits, especially in the southern provinces. (Editing by Jerry Norton)

AKI – Adnkronos International

Lashkar Gah, 4 August (AKI) – The US overseas aid agency and the Afghan agriculture minister on Monday unveiled a 50 million dollar investment project to halt opium production in southern Helmand province.

The project is at aimed encouraging farmers in the province switch from opium to other crops. Part of the cash will be spent on a modern agricultural research centre and a new airport at Lashkar Gah – the first purely civilian-controlled airport in Helmand.

Over half of the world’s opium was grown in Helmand in 2007. The joint US-Afghan project will give opium growers incentives to cultivate new crops such as pomegranates, pistachio nuts and almonds instead of poppies.

A purpose-built processing centre at the new Lashkar Gah airport will enable the new crops to be properly stored and packaged.

Fighting between Taliban insurgents and NATO forces in Helmand makes it hard to transport perishable produce to markets.

Much of Helmand’s opium production was under Taliban control until they were forced to withdraw partially from the province earlier this year.

Ninety percent of the anti-opium project’s funding will come from the US government’s overseas aid agency (USAID) and 10 percent from the Afghan government.

Some 18 million dollars will be allocated to paving the 2,200-metre (yard) runway, building the new airport terminal and constructing the agricultural centre.

The remainder will be spent on agricultural development in the province, ensuring markets for the farmers and providing technical assistance.

Farmers in Afghanistan are to be given millions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money to persuade them to stop growing poppy crops for heroin.

By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor
The Telegraph (UK) / August 23, 2008

Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, will announce this week that the Government is to pour money into the war‑torn Helmand province to encourage farmers to switch from poppy cultivation to wheat.

Ministers are to launch a campaign to persuade 26,000 farmers each to grow a hectare (2½ acres) of wheat in place of poppies, to cut heroin trade and address food shortages.

Afghanistan is facing a food crisis this autumn as a drought combined with soaring food prices has led to shortages and hunger. But the sky-high prices have encouraged some farmers to move to legal crops.

Mr Alexander will say that the Department for International Development (DfID) is donating £2million to the governor of Helmand’s short-term counter-narcotics plan, which is also backed by Britain’s Civil-Military Mission to Helmand, which is providing a further £2.125 million, and the US Agency for International Development.

The new initiative comes as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime prepares to publish its opium survey for 2008, which is expected to show the poppy harvest has stabilised or slightly reduced.

In a two-pronged attack, wheat seed, fertiliser and expert advice will be given to farmers in secure areas where crops can easily be monitored. The plan covers more than 37,000 acres of farmland.

In dangerous areas where the insurgents are still active, farmers will be able to collect seeds from British military bases but not fertiliser, which could be used on poppies.

But the sting in the tail is a warning that if farmers given help still grow poppies their crops will be wiped out.

In the rest of Afghanistan farmers will be offered vouchers to buy subsidised seed, fertiliser and tools. The DfID is providing a further £2million for this project.

Remote Afghan province is home to major trading post for heroin destined for Europe and arms for Taleban and other militants.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Badakhshan (ARR No. 295, 30-Jun-08)

The bazaar sits on a small island in the river Panj, a narrow expanse of shallow but fast-flowing water that is all that separates the Badakhshan region of Tajikistan from the Afghan province of the same name. On either side loom the Pamir mountains, a range of high peaks that cuts the region off from the rest of the world.

When the bazaar opened about five years ago, the hardy Pamiri people of Tajikistan rejoiced that they would now have contact with people on the Afghan side of the river from whom they had been cut off for decades – by the Soviets, by war, and by ruined economies.

Some boasted happily that Tajikistan would soon be able to share its technical know-how with its Afghan brothers.

That know-how has since flowed both ways, although not as the optimists hoped.

The unprepossessing frontier bazaar squatting on the river Panj has become one of the largest arms-for-drugs trading centres in the world.

In the middle of the river, local mafiosi cut deals that will arm Taleban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, as well as al-Qaeda and other militant groups in the wider region. In return for Russian-made weapons, they trade Afghan heroin that will eventually be sold on the streets of European cities.

The Joint Bazaar, as it is called, covers approximately 2,000 square metres surrounded by concrete walls.

Border police control access to the site, Tajik officers on one side, Afghans on the other.

Inside, local merchants display their wares on hand-woven carpets. Foodstuffs from Tajikistan such as dried mulberries, apples, and almonds compete with offerings from the Afghan side, mostly exotic fruit brought from Pakistan, like mangoes and tangerines.

Colourful Pamir “jurabi”, the thick knitted socks that locals wear in winter, alternate with piles of cheap clothing as the customers haggle over prices.

But the real business here is conducted behind the scenes. From the northern side of the border, smugglers bring in gemstones and weapons to exchange for high-quality Afghan heroin.

Business is booming, according to Mohammad Aslam (not his real name), a trader from Afghanistan.

“My income has doubled these days,” he told IWPR. “On the one hand, we are making money from heroin; on the other, we can take weapons into Afghanistan and make even more money selling them to arms smugglers from the south.”

The bazaar provides the meeting place where contacts are made and deals are struck. But the goods are not stored here – Mohammad Aslam explained that smugglers bring samples of their wares, and then discuss quantity and price.

“After we agree on a deal, we pay some money in advance and meet at a specified time to exchange the rest of the goods,” he said.

The price list is fairly standard, according to the smuggler.

“The automatic weapons that are brought in by the Russians are mostly Kalakovs, which are more expensive than Kalashnikovs,” he said.

“Kalakov” is local parlance for late-model Kalashnikov rifles such as the AK-74, which are more prized than the old AK-47.

“We trade a kilogram of heroin for ten Kalakovs or 15 [old-model] Kalashnikovs,” he said. “After that, we sell them to smugglers from Helmand and Kandahar either for cash or for more heroin.”

The traders do a good business, since the insurgents are willing to pay top dollar for firearms.

“While we exchange a kilo of heroin for ten Kalakovs, the Taleban will give us a kilo for just five or six [guns],” he continued. “Everybody benefits.”

The guns come disassembled for ease of shipping.

“They come in small parts, and that is how we take them into Afghanistan,” said Mohammad Aslam. “When we manage to get one Kalashnikov to the centre of Badakhshan we can sell it for 200 US dollars, but the same gun will fetch 50 per cent more in Jalalabad.”

The arms-for-heroin trade is of course a risky business.

“The location for exchanging large amounts of heroin and weapons is always kept secret,” he said. “If it’s a major deal, we take a lot of armed men with us to guarantee our security. Then we load the merchandise onto donkeys or mules.”

The terrain is so rugged that only the smaller, more nimble animals can negotiate some pathways, which seem to extend directly up the mountainside.

The smugglers do not seem overly worried about police or other law enforcement officials.

Mohammad Aslam’s past includes a stint as a “warlord” in one of Afghanistan’s many armed militias, and he has retained some useful contacts.

“We have armed supporters in the area who are in turn supported by some people in the authorities,” he said. “We also have old friends in the government, and everybody gets a cut of the deal.”

The arms make their way south, and not only to the Taleban.

Standing beside Mohammad Aslam was Mir Alam, all the way from Sorkh Rod district in the southeast Afghan province of Nangarhar. He had just picked up a consignment of weapons and was about to head south in his Russian-made jeep.

“I am just looking for a good customer,” he said. “It isn’t important to us who it is. Most of the Taleban are good customers, but we also take these guns further into Pakistan, to the Landi Kotal market, where we sell them to international arms smugglers.”

From Landi Kotal – located high in the Khyber Pass – the weapons make their way to radical groups all over the world, Mir Alam said, explaining, “Landi Kotal is one of the largest arms markets in the region. The mujaheddin and al-Qaeda purchase weapons for Palestine, Kashmir and other battle fronts.”

As in most businesses, demand drives prices.

“When Arabs come to Pakistan, the price goes up,” said Mir Alam.

Whatever the fluctuations, the trade is immensely lucrative, and is a better earner than simply selling narcotics, because of the high demand for arms.

“The exchange of arms for heroin makes a lot of money – more than we get from heroin smuggling alone,” said Mir Alam. “Each time the weapons are exchanged for heroin, both sides get a profit from both arms and heroin. It’s a good trade. I know people who have luxury palaces in Dubai and other Arab countries thanks to this trade.”

The major profits go to those with the clout to call on adequate protection. “The big smugglers are backed by governments in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia,” he said. “These smugglers can pay huge amounts of money. But we don’t do badly.”

On the other side of the border, heroin is smuggled further into Tajikistan, and from there through the Central Asian republics to Russian and European markets. The trade generates large profits along its way, although not so much for those who simply ferry it across the Tajik-Afghan border.

“We really don’t make that much money out of this,” said one Tajik smuggler. “Our job is just to get the sacks of heroin across the border, then the Russian mafia come with their vehicles, many of which have police insignia. They take the heroin and give us the guns. Then they take the drugs to Europe.

“All along the way we bribe the police. The Russians do, too, but they have to give money to high-ranking officials. Failing that, it’s impossible.”

In past years, Badakhshan mostly grew, processed and exported its own opium, the raw material of heroin. Now, given the explosion of cultivation in the south, especially in Helmand, and a largely successful eradication process in Badakhshan itself, the northern province has become a clearing-house for drugs from other provinces.

One resident of Ishkashim district of Afghan Badakhshan, speaking on condition of anonymity, was happy to guide a visitor through the process by which raw opium is turned into heroin.

“I have been running a small heroin-processing lab for three years now,” he said. “My brothers and partners, however, are mostly involved in smuggling, because it gives them a lot of income.”

The lab is located underground, and is not exactly hi-tech. It consists of six barrels, a few basins, a press and bags of opium.

“First you pour between 18 and 36 kilos of opium into each barrel and boil it in water for two or three days,” he explained. “Then you press the paste and dry it in the sun. To obtain the white powder, you pour a certain kind of acid on it.”

According to one drug smuggler, a kilo of opium costs between 200 and 300 US dollars here. It takes five to seven kilos of opium to produce one kilo of heroin, which sells for approximately 2,000 dollars at the Panj River market. Once it is safely across the Tajik border, the price goes up to 5,000 dollars.

On the streets of Europe or the United States, of course, the price increases exponentially.

The provincial government of Afghan Badakhshan freely admits that it has little control over the processing and smuggling drugs in Badakhshan. Many parts of this mountainous region are remote and inaccessible, and coupled with the tangled bureaucracy, it is all but impossible to curb the trade.

“Since the borders are administered directly by the Ministry of the Interior, I do not feel responsible,” said provincial governor Abdul Majid. “Badakhshan is like a fortress, and I do not have control over its gatekeeper.”

The governor was able to reduce poppy cultivation by 72 per cent in 2007, taking Badakhshan from being one of the leading producers of opium in Afghanistan to nearly poppy-free status.

But Abdul Majid has not been able to make a dent in the smuggling trade, and also acknowledges that there are heroin labs in Badakhshan.

According to the governor, unless the administrative system is changed and the border police are brought under his control, he will not be able to patrol the smuggling routes.

The laboratories are located in remote areas which cannot be adequately policed, he added.

“Badakhshan is so mountainous that in some places people have to walk for two days just to reach a road,” he said. “These labs are not permanent fixtures; they just consist of a couple of barrels and basins. If the police find out about them, they can easily be moved to another location, so control is a bit difficult.”

General Abdul Rahman Rahman, commander-in-chief of the Afghan border police, also confirmed that organised crime was rife in the north. But he said the authorities were trying to contain the menace by training and equipping the police force.

“While terrorism is the main challenge in the south, the presence of local and international mafia presents another challenge in the north,” he told reporters at a press conference in Mazar-e-Sharif. “Local [militia] commanders are another kind of problem, and they support this mafia in the north.”

He acknowledged that police were not always up to the task of dealing with the drug problem, but insisted the situation was improving.

“Our police are getting training and equipment,” he said. “We will prevent such situations in the future.”

The Tajik police at the border were not quite so forthcoming.

A young officer, standing at the gate of the market, flatly denied that any smuggling was going on.

“No one can do illegal work here,” he told IWPR. “You can see everybody, and they are not exchanging anything except food, clothes and fruit. We are here to maintain security at the bazaar, so that people can work in a safe environment. We want to cement the brotherhood between Afghans and Tajiks.”

Smugglers say it is unlikely that governments in the region can prevent the trafficking of guns and heroin – the scale, and the profits, are simply too big.

“The weapons find their way to Arab countries and the heroin finds its way to Europe, so the entire world is involved in the trade,” said Mohammad Aslam. “The local governments know they can’t do anything to stop it, so they just take their cut. And so do we.

“The people who buy weapons support poppy cultivation. There’s an agreement there, and things are getting better day by day.”

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR reporter based in Mazar-e-Sharif.

By Kate Clark
BBC News, Afghanistan
Tuesday, 24 June 2008

The Taleban made an estimated $100m (£50m) in 2007 from Afghan farmers
growing poppy for the opium trade, the United Nations says.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said
the money was raised by a 10% tax on farmers in Taleban-controlled areas.

The UN estimates last year’s poppy harvest was worth $1bn (£500m).

Mr Costa said the Taleban made even more money from other activities related
to the opium trade.

“One is protection to laboratories and the other is that the insurgents offer
protection to cargo, moving opium across the border,” Mr Costa told the BBC’s
File on 4 programme.

The final figures for this year’s harvest have yet to be released but yield
and proceeds are likely to be down due to drought, infestation and a poppy ban
enforced in the north and east of Afghanistan.

This would lower revenue, “but not enormously”, Mr Costa said.

Stockpiles

The past few years have seen abundant yields from poppy farming, with Afghan
farmers cultivating more than the global demand.

“Last year Afghanistan produced about 8,000 tonnes of opium,” Mr Costa said.

“The world in the past few years has consumed about 4,000 tonnes in opium,
this leaves a surplus.

“It is stored somewhere and not with the farmers,” he added.

The stockpiles represent hundreds of millions of dollars and it is not known
whether they are possessed by traffickers, corrupt Afghan officials and
politicians or the Taleban.

British officials say that drugs money funds the Taleban’s military
operations.

“The closer we look at it, the closer we see the insurgents [are] to the
drugs trade,” said David Belgrove, head of counter narcotics at the British
embassy in Kabul.

“We can say that a lot of their arms and ammunition are being funded directly
by the drugs trade.”

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