INSIDE AN AFGHAN OPIUM MARKET

From here the opium is taken to the nearby mountains and villages to
heroin labs set up by local drug dealers, where it is processed into
heroin. Eventually, it will hit the streets of Europe

TRAVELLING on Afghanistan's main Jalalabad to Torkham road, you
eventually arrive at Shaddle Bazaar, a market of around 30 shops in
the eastern province of Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan.

At first glance, it looks like any other normal market offering
everyday goods. But in reality, this is one of Afghanistan's biggest
opium markets. Farmers from Nangarhar and other adjacent provinces
bring opium to Shaddle to sell. Much of it comes from Nangarhar and
Helmand - two of Afghanistan's biggest opium-producing provinces.

Mud hut shop: Thousands of kilos of opium are bought and sold every
day. Sitting inside the shop tension between the drug dealers is
visible - for a few minutes there is hot dispute and shouting over
prices and the quality of the opium before the transaction is
completed. There are big scales in the shop, and the assistant weighs
the opium on it - Gul Mohammad is busy counting out Pakistani rupees
to pay for the opium he has bought from one of his customers.

In his mud hut shop he buys hundreds of kilos of opium every day and
the smell of it is everywhere. Outside his shop vehicles come and go
- - green tea is served constantly for the visitors. But you do not
have to study what is going on too closely to notice the unusual - a
man carries a big bag full of hundreds of thousands of Afghanis. The
dealers all carry pistols which they say is for their own protection.

Customers enter the shop bringing opium packed secretly, which they
refer to by its nickname as maal. They are constantly on the look-out
for government informers. I am repeatedly asked not to take pictures
of anyone's face, nor should I name anyone. The names of those
involved in the drugs trade in this piece have been made up to
protect their identity. "We could get killed or arrested," says one
of the few people in the shop willing to talk to me.

Europe bound: Some villagers, like 18-year-old Abdullah Jan, have to
walk for hours before reaching Shaddle. The tiredness on his face
explains it all - if he is stopped by government agents or bandits he
would lose money that feeds his family for the entire year. "I left
at four in the morning and got here after four hours. I have brought
10kg of opium from my fields to sell."

After a hard bargain with Gul Mohammad Khan, the opium dealer, he is
getting the equivalent of $1,400 - more than he can get for any other
crop. He is one of hundreds of people who travel to Shaddle bazaar to
sell and buy opium. From here the opium is taken to the nearby
mountains and villages in the border areas to heroin labs set up by
local drug dealers, where it is processed into heroin. Eventually, it
will hit the streets of Europe.

After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the market has been raided
several times but it has re-opened again and again. In recent months,
Afghanistan's elite anti-drug force has raided the bazaar with the
help of foreign forces in the country - they made arrests and seized
opium and heroin in large quantities. But they did not succeed in
closing down the bazaar indefinitely.

Last year, Afghanistan's poppy production reached record levels. The
US state department's annual report on narcotics said the flourishing
drugs trade was undermining the fight against the Taliban.

Powerful mafia: It warned of a possible increase in heroin overdoses
in Europe and the Middle East as a result. Poppy production rose 25%
in 2006, a figure US Assistant Secretary of State Ann Patterson
described as alarming. Four years after the US and its British allies
began combating poppy production, Afghanistan still accounts for 90%
of the world's opium trade.

The US has recently given the Afghan government more than $10bn in
assistance, but most of the money will be spent on security rather
than encouraging alternative sources of income. For 45-year-old Gul
Mohammad Khan being a opium trader is his way of surviving. "If we
had roads, clinics, factories and if there were job opportunities I
would not do what I am doing now," he said.

For the past 10 years Mr Mohammad has seen many regimes and local
officials come and go. His shop has been raided many times but he has
never been arrested. Inside, I am shown various qualities of opium
and other raw material that are used to make heroin. Current prices
are anywhere from 10,000 Afghanis ($201) for a kilo of dry opium -
that is the best quality - to around 5,500 Afghanis ($110) for wet opium.

Target traffickers: According to officials, the mafia is powerful and
strong. "They are so strong that we sometimes find ourselves
outnumbered fighting them," says Gen Daud Daud, the deputy minister
of interior in charge of counter narcotics. "In these mountains of
Achin district and other border villages they have everything from
heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and of course better
vehicles and more money than we do."

Haji Deen Gul - who is selling 20kg of opium - is critical of the
Afghan government and the international community for targeting the
farmers. Instead he wants the traffickers to be targeted. "They
should target the ones who are selling the heroin to Western
countries. I sell my opium to feed my family and from my heroin they
can even make medicine. When I have water and roads provided to me, I
will stop growing poppies."

Before I leave Gul Mohammad Khan's shop, he tells me selling opium is
not ideally the trade he wants to be in. "I don't want my children to
be in this trade and I hope that some day the world will help us.
Only then can we stop the opium trade." courtesy bbc news

Names of those mentioned in the article have been changed to protect
their identities.