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

United States and NATO Forces at the Center of the Cycle:

The United States military and NATO forces are at the center of another cycle that is permitting the war lords to achieve power in Afghanistan. While achieving stability is the job of coalition forces in Afghanistan they are actually promoting the opposite. By empowering regional war lords, they are weakening the reach of the Karzai government. On the contrary, regional war lords have been successful at eliminating the al Qaeda threat in Afghanistan. However, this is a driving factor in the amount of poppy that is produced in these Afghan tribal regions.

NATO forces are currently taking a two pronged approach to eliminating al Qaeda in Afghanistan. First, they are engaging terrorists militarily through their own missions in accordance with the Afghan National Army. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan has produced the arrest of thousands of terrorists and has unfolded an unknown number of terrorist plots. Second, coalition forces are using tribal war lords to fight al Qaeda in their provincial regions. The war lords have been quite successful at eliminating al Qaeda. “Special operations forces work closely with the [warlords] to coordinate OEF air and fire support, conduct tactical training, and provide advice when required” (Maloney 2004). Tribal warlords know their region, and more importantly the people living in that region, well. They are more capable of gathering information from locals and locating individuals suspected of terrorism. Through NATO support the warlords are able to maintain power which provides for greater poppy production in Afghanistan.

Tribal warlords feel empowered by NATO’s willingness to use them as an ally in the Global War on Terrorism. This type of empowerment enables warlords to encourage and even coerce Afghan farmers to grow poppy. As stated earlier, warlords need cash to ensure their ability to purchase weapons on the black market. The United States, NATO, and Coalition Forces are directly feeding the Afghan drug trade through their alliance with the war lords.

Poppy grown in Afghanistan is distributed to the West and poisons the people who abuse it. However, the amount of money made by tribal warlords is estimated to be around three billion dollars annually. This money goes to weapons and is also re-invested in the drug trade. Like any business, you treat it with respect, which means re-investment in the proven methods which work. Because of this cycle; if the United States military and NATO forces do not engage tribal warlords Afghanistan will soon become a narco-state that will result in extreme global consequences.

NATO and U

Sources:

Maloney, Sean M. (2004). “Afghanistan: From Here to Eternity?”