Elliot Dawes
Intro to IR
4/8/10

The Taliban; Its Drug Trade and Counter Intelligence.
The Taliban is a rogue regime, ever pressed for cash and ever fighting to increase its power and influence. As with any rogue regime, the Taliban relies on whatever resources it has. In South America the cartels use cocaine, in Eastern Europe trafficking girls is a favorite of organized crime; the Taliban uses the poppy plant, and poppy derived drugs. The poppy plant is the first step in producing any opiate including heroine and opium. The difficult task is figuring out just how great a part the poppy plant plays for the Taliban, as records to drug trafficking are estimates, and most information is still unknown. What sources do know is that seventy two percent of the worlds poppy based drugs come from Afghanistan. Ninety six percent of the poppy grown is grown in areas controlled by the Taliban. While extremism and power are perhaps at the heart of the Taliban, it is clear poppies and the drug trade are the veins and arteries.
The Taliban remains in the dark about being directly linked to the drug trade. However, the group openly taxes the production, processing, shipment, and sales of opiates, and goes as far as to keep reciets of these revenues. From this information, it is estimated that the Taliban brought in roughly 50 million dollars in 2000 from opiates.1 However the CIA, DEA, and other foreign intelligence is aware that the Taliban is in-fact directly connected to the drug trade, which would mean their profits far exceed 40 million dollars into a multi-billion dollar industry. Most of the opiates are transported into Europe. Tony Blaire is quoted as saying “the arms the Taliban are buying are paid for with the lives of young British people buying their drugs on British streets.”1
The complexity comes with understanding the hierarchy of the drug trade. This hierarchy system is what makes reversing the drug trade almost impossible. At the lowest level are the farmers who grow the crop. These farmers make little more than they would growing other crops, but are assured help. People come to pick up the crop, and the farmers know they will at least make a living. Many know that if they stop growing the crop, they will be killed. These people are normally innocent and well intentioned, and going after this tier in the system would be ineffective as well as too expansive and far-fetched. Next is a series of tiers including the people who pick up the drugs, people who sell the drugs at open bazaars, and people who are dealing the mostly raw poppies to manufactures and other dealers. Then there are people who manufacture the drugs into different opiates, turning the harmless plant into a lethal drug. These people are closely monitored by people higher up, people in the Taliban. The drugs are then sold, shipped, or transported in some way with every step being taxed by the Taliban. Billions of dollars are being made. Complicating the process is the involvement of bigger players, such as Al Queada and Osama Bin Laden. Reports claim that Osama Bin Laden’s personal connections have opened up major drug routes for the Taliban. In turn the Taliban protects and supplies Osama Bin Laden with resources. Another major player in the drug trade, is the arms trade. Arms dealers from Russia constitute the major buys of drugs from Afghanistan. Russian arms dealers meet with Taliban drug lords at a bazaar deep in Tajikistan’s desert near the border region with Afghanistan. The bazaar is said to exist solely for the trade of Afghan drugs for Russian guns. Drugs are almost never traded for cash here because guns have a much higher value in Afghanistan. It is said a kilo of pure heroine can be expected to bring in thirty AK-47s. The guns are then broken down into parts and smuggled back into Afghanistan, where they are shipped to the front lines. Smugglers claim that the Taliban gets far more than 60 percent of their munitions from this type of drug trade.3
With profits so great, it is disheartening but true that protection comes from higher places. A former Afghan smuggler is quoted “’We are like a company, we have some big sponsors who support us in the government.’” This is one of the biggest factors which limits the ability to take down the drug trade. NATO has had difficulties getting President Karzai’s backing in going after drug traffickers, and the military follows mandate that does not cover the drug trade.
1. Perl, Raphael F. "Page Not Found." Foreign Press Centers. 5 Oct. 2001. Web. 08 Apr. 2010. .
2. Perl, Raphael F. "CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Taliban and the Drug Trade." 5 Oct. 2001. Web.
3. Starkey, Jerome. "Drugs for Guns: How the Afghan Heroin Trade Is Fuelling the Taliban Insurgency - Asia, World - The Independent." The Independent | News | UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper. 29 Apr. 2008. Web. 08 Apr. 2010. .