Afghan casualty: anti-drug effort

RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN

Just a few months ago, US officials had begrudging praise for the Taliban for banning the opium-producing poppy from the farmlands of Afghanistan.

Now, that praise is forgotten. Not only are the Taliban protectors of terrorists, in Washington's eyes, they have once again emerged as a major world supplier of drugs, particularly opium and heroin.

Recent reports in Europe of falling narcotics prices set off alarm bells that Afghan drug smugglers may be selling off stockpiles to pay for weapons.

There's no proof as yet, say officials, that Afghan opium has begun to flood the market - drug seizures in Pakistan actually fell 50 percent this year, perhaps because of tighter security on the Afghan-Pakistan border. But Pakistani and international drug-control officials are bracing for a worst-case scenario, as the West launches what may be a prolonged war against a nation that in the past decade became the largest source of opium in the world.

"Opium has always been a part of the Afghan economy. It has played a role as currency and a source of savings for farmers, and in times of crisis, they sold their stocks to get cash," says Bernard Frahi, director of the Afghan program of the United Nations Drug Control Program in Islamabad, Pakistan.

What makes the present situation dangerous, Mr. Frahi adds, is that Afghanistan's present rulers, as well as the opposition Northern Alliance, could use opium stockpiles to help fund their war efforts. In the past, the Taliban reportedly earned tens of millions from taxes on opium production.

While drug smugglers may be avoiding Pakistan's tighter borders, they could easily go to neighboring states such as Iran, China, or the Central Asian republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, or Turkmenistan.

"In these past days of financial crisis for these terrorist groups, one might think that the Taliban and the Al Qaeda [terrorist network] would use existing trafficking networks in order to get some immediate cash," says Frahi. "After all, the [smuggler's] staff is available, and the opium and the heroin labs are in the country."

Oddly enough, it is the very issue of drug control that the Taliban consider to be one of their greatest successes. Pointing to Islamic injunctions against drunkenness and addiction, Taliban's ruling leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar issued an edict last year to ban poppy cultivation outright. Faced with the threat of stiff financial and physical penalties, including death, only 6 percent of the farmers in Taliban areas grew poppies.

"In Pakistan, we took 15 years to eradicate the opium poppy, but Mullah Omar did it in one year," says one Pakistani drug-control official, in private. "That is really commendable. It's amazing."

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