AFGHANISTAN'S OPIUM DILEMMA

To mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit
Trafficking, which falls on June 26, Perspective today begins a
series of articles related to drug problems in Thailand and the
region. In the following article, JAMES EMERY looks at the situation
in Afghanistan, where the Taleban are, and have always been, drug traffickers.

Afghanistan's 2008 opium crop is expected to produce similar yields
as last year's record of 8,243 metric tonnes, according to the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

In 2007, five provinces which are Taleban strongholds - Helmand,
Kandahar, Uruzgan, Nimroz and Farah - were responsible for 77.7% of
the country's opium cultivation. Helmand province alone produced 53%
of the nation's total crop.

"It is quite obvious the Taleban are involved in the drug trade,
particularly in the southern provinces," said Dr Thomas Pietschmann,
of the Research and Analysis Section of the UNODC in Vienna, Austria.
"We also have information that the farmers were told by the Taleban
to grow opium."

Many people mistakenly believe the Taleban are opposed to the drug
trade due to the ban they placed on opium cultivation during their
last year in power, before liberation of the country by the US-led
coalition in 2001. However, even prior to capturing Kabul on
September 27, 1996, the Taleban were making deals to allow opium
cultivation and processing in return for a cut of the profits.

Opium cultivation increased significantly each year under Taleban
rule until they issued decrees in July 2000 banning poppy planting,
after that year's crop was safely harvested. During the ban, the
Taleban were selling opium at newly inflated prices and allowed
others to sell, process, and transport drugs, with the Taleban taking
their usual fees in taxes and protection money.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration said the ban was
probably an attempt to increase the price of opium, which declined
following a series of bumper crops. Before the Taleban ban in 2000,
the farm-gate price for dry opium ranged from US$30 to $100 per
kilogramme. The ban caused a surge in opium prices that topped at
$700 per kg in September of 2001, creating millions of dollars in
additional profits for the Taleban and their associates.

The price of opium plummeted to approximately $100 per kg when
wholesalers dumped their stock after the United States attacked the
Taleban on October 7, 2001. Opium prices climbed significantly during
2003 and 2004, but have softened again due to bumper crops the last two years.

The current average price in Afghanistan for a kilo of dry opium is
about $106. The Taleban make their money by levying taxes of 10% on
opium cultivation and up to 15% to 20% on processing, trades,
smuggling, and distribution. This is in addition to the money they
are paid to provide protection for opium fields, heroin processing
labs, drug shipments, and narcotics traffickers. In many cases, taxes
and fees are paid to the Taleban in drugs, which they sell or store
for future sales.

The Taleban taxes on cultivation and processing are based upon the
Islamic charity taxes of "zakat" and "usher". Zakat, also referred to
as alms or purification, is the third of the Five Pillars of Islam.
It requires individuals to share 2.5% of their wealth with those in
need. Usher literally means "tenth", and refers to the tax paid on
the harvest for the benefit of the poor. Most of the money collected
by the Taleban goes to fund the insurgency, instead of helping the
poor and needy as directed by the Qur'an.

During the Taleban years of 1996 to 2001, when income from drugs was
their sole source of foreign exchange, the Taleban made $30 to $50
million a year. These sums, while substantial for a regional group of
narco-traffickers, are dwarfed by what the Taleban have made the last
five years. The Taleban's income from narcotics began growing during
2003 and 2004 when opium prices and production soared. They garnered
additional financial benefits from the explosion in cultivation and
processing between 2005 and 2007.

"They earned much less when they governed the country because the
price of opium was much lower," said Dr Pietschmann, of the UNODC. "I
calculated they are making $250 to $300 million per year over the
last three years."

The Taleban have made at least $1 billion to $1.6 billion from
narcotics trafficking during the last ten years. Their quest for
power may be fuelled more by greed than ideology.

"Al-Qaeda and the Taleban are terrorists," said Ashraf Haidari,
political counsellor at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, DC.
"They work hand-in-hand so we really don't differentiate between
them. Narcotics are one source of funding for al-Qaeda."

While al-Qaeda has attempted to keep a low profile regarding their
involvement in the drug trade, they have without question actively
supported the Taleban's drug-related activities for many years.
Al-Qaeda operatives also accompany Taleban forces in protecting
heroin shipments and drug traffickers, to the peril of over 10
million Muslims who have become addicted to Afghan drugs.

The Taleban are, and have always been, drug traffickers who have made
alliances with opium cultivators, heroin processors, narcotics
smugglers, and an increasing number of regional and global criminal
organisations. Should the Taleban ever regain control of Afghanistan,
they will turn it into a brutally repressive, narco-terrorist state
that would be a threat to the region and a scourge on humanity.