The Drug-Terror Cycle: How Afghanistan Poppy Production Fuels Global Terrorism III

Afghanistan Regains Largest Growth of Poppy Post United States Military Invasion:

Post US invasion Afghanistan has, once again, re-claimed the top position of poppy production. Afghanistan produces up to 90 percent of the worlds illicit opium supply. Most of this product is distributed to Europe and South East Asia, but some ends up in the United States. The Taliban cracked down on poppy production in the years 2000 and 2001, which nearly eliminated poppy growth in Afghanistan. Afghanistan poppy production went down 99 percent after this crackdown. The crackdown was forced economically, militarily, and socially. Post intervention of the Taliban regime; Afghanistan regained normal levels of poppy production.

Poppy elimination was also enforced through military measures. The Taliban and their military and law enforcement officers enforced elimination by destroying poppy plants. Farmers caught growing poppy by the Afghani police were arrested. Their punishment was the destruction of their poppy plant and a two year, or more, jail term. Poppy eradication led to a significant drop in the poppy yield and heroin use. “Globally the net result of the intervention produced an estimated 35% reduction in poppy cultivation and a 65% reduction in the potential illicit heroin supply from harvests in 2001” (Farrell, Thorne 2004). The aggressive law enforcement tactics were the main reasons poppy was nearly eradicated in Afghanistan. Religiously, the production of harmful drugs is forbidden by Islamic law.

The Taliban also declared a fatwa that growing poppy does not follow Sharia, Islamic law. “Some violators were paraded through the streets with blackened faces carrying several heavy sacks of heroin or wearing poppies while a ‘town crier’ informed the village of the fatwa violation” (Farrell, Thorne 2004) Humiliation and shame are detrimental to the reputations of people in the Muslim world. This type of community isolation would cause a decrease in the poppy production. Afghani farmers were frightened from the humiliation they would cause themselves and their families for growing poppy. However, the economic gains farmers would receive from a successful poppy harvest, sometimes, outweighed the shame and humiliation of being arrested for illicit poppy production.

These restrictions nearly eliminated the growth of poppy in Afghanistan. Some of the tactics were brutal, but illicit opium production fell dramatically in 2001. After the US invasion of Afghanistan, the United States focused the majority of their attention on al Qaeda and are currently ignoring the drug lords. Opium is the driving force that is destabilizing Afghanistan. It is isolating the Karzai government, and providing tribal war lords power in their communities. Afghanistan has now surpassed its previous record in poppy production. Poppy production is expected to rise in 2007 and every year for the foreseeable future.

Sources:

Farrell, Graham, and John Thorne. 2004. “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: An Evaluation of the Taliban Crackdown Against Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan.” International Journal of Drug Policy 16(2005).