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Kabul buying blow

Now, out of a population of 35 million, more than a million are addicted to drugs - proportionately the highest figure in the world. Right in the heart of Kabul, on the stony banks of the Kabul River, drug addicts gather to buy and use heroin. It's a place of misery and degradation. In broad daylight about a dozen men and teenage boys sit huddled in pairs smoking and injecting. Among them are some educated people - a doctor, an engineer and an interpreter. Tariq Sulaiman, from Najat, a local addiction charity, comes here regularly to try to persuade addicts to get treatment. At the age of 18, Jawid, originally from Badakhshan in the north of Afghanistan, has already been hooked on heroin for 10 years. His uncle introduced him to drugs when he was a small child, to make him work harder on the land. Everyone hates me. I should have been at school at this age, but I am a junkie,' he says. His father is dead. His disabled mother worries about her son constantly. All she wants from life is for him to get clean, but she begs on the streets to pay for his daily dose to prevent him stealing. This is the fate of the most hardcore addicts, whose fires can be seen at night. Police regularly beat and disperse them, and sometimes throw them in the river. Jawid: ''I came here to quit, to become a nice person''. The reasons why so many Afghans are turning to drugs are complex. It's clear that decades of violence have played a part. Many of those who fled during the violence of the last 30 years took refuge in Iran and Pakistan, where addiction rates have long been high. They're now returning and bringing their drug problems with them, officials say. He says he takes drugs 'to be calm and to relax' - but that he would prefer to be dead than a junkie, as he now is. Another factor is the increasing availability of heroin, which over the last decade has begun to be refined from raw opium in Afghanistan itself. To buy heroin in Kabul is 'as easy as buying yourself something to eat', addicts say. When foreign troops arrived in Afghanistan in , one of their goals was to stem drug production. Instead, they have concentrated on fighting insurgents, and have often been accused of turning a blind eye to the poppy fields. Opium has been around in Afghanistan for centuries, used as a kind of medical cure-all. In a hospital in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, I met an Afghan woman, Fatima, who had taken opium while suffering from bleeding after childbirth, because it was cheaper than going to a doctor. Then she gave it to her baby to stop her coughing during breastfeeding - and now both are addicted. While Fatima and her baby are getting treatment at a public hospital, few Afghan addicts get any help at all. All told, the health ministry runs 95 addiction treatment centres around the country, with enough bed space for 2, people. Jawid alone consumes heroin worth about three times that every day. The treatment consists of going 'cold turkey' for 72 hours. The participants began by getting their heads shaved. After one day, Jawid was in pain, but he could deal with it. Then, on the second night, he started shouting and crying and banging his head against a wall. When I met him on the street, he denied that he was back on heroin, but his glazed eyes and rambling speech told a different story. As he disappeared into the snowy twilight, his chances of kicking his habit seemed bleak. And as Afghanistan faces so many problems on so many fronts, its chances of winning the wider war on drugs seem equally uncertain. You can follow the Magazine on Twitter , external and on Facebook , external. By Tahir Qadiry. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Afghanistan, the drug addiction capital

Kabul buying blow

Economy, Development, Environment. Although opium trading largely continued, which brought windfall profits to anyone with opium stocks to sell, the ban on cultivation has caused unemployment and an economic crisis among many small farmers, labourers, and small business owners who depended on farmers spending money. Many said they have sent men in the family abroad to try to find work. For twenty years, between and , Helmand province ranked number one in poppy cultivation. The Musa Qala bazaar, in particular, has been one of the biggest drug markets nationwide, attracting key drug traders and smugglers. Additionally, before the takeover of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan IEA in August , Helmand was one of the most insecure provinces of the country. Insecurity fuelled poppy cultivation: as an annual crop whose buyers come to your farm no need to pay bribes to get this crop to market and which does not decay, if dried and stored properly, indeed keeps its value and can be used as savings, credit or to loan, it was the perfect crop for people living in insecure times. Opium poppy cultivation had, until last year, dominated agriculture in Helmand. For decades, other crops, such as wheat and maize, were negligible. Those districts of Helmand with a warm climate, such as Nad Ali, could grow poppy all year round. The main harvesting season, between April and May, attracted seasonal workers from other provinces like Ghazni, Zabul, Wardak, Paktia and Paktika. One of the authors even observed in spring , Afghan refugees and Pakistanis coming to Helmand, especially to Nad Ali, to labour in the poppy fields see this AAN report. A table showing provincial rankings and the percentage change in area under cultivation compared to , based on data from David Mansfield and Alcis, can be seen in this AAN report from November This time, both provinces are under IEA control. The ban was expected to hit particular segments of the population very hard: small farmers whose holdings are too small for a crop like wheat to provide enough income to support a family, \[1\] In Afghanistan, wheat is generally grown as a subsistence staple, not a cash crop. The comparative price with poppy shows why it is not an alternative, especially for small farmers: UNODC … Continue reading farmers who are landless and either rent land or work as sharecroppers and daily labourers. It was also expected to have a depressive effect on the local economy on businesses indirectly dependent on income from poppy. The interviewees were: six farmers, two shopkeepers, a tailor and a mechanic all male. AAN targeted people from households who were struggling to find employment, as well as farmers who had tried to switch to alternative crops. The report is structured in five sections, each corresponding to a question. The first section offers the background information collected from various sources and descriptive accounts from our interviewees about how the ban has been implemented. The second deals with the implications of the ban on opium prices; it includes background information collected from various sources and the first-hand accounts from our interviews. The third and fourth questions asked our interviewees how they personally had been affected by the ban, either as farmers and sharecroppers or as small business owners. The final question found out from farmers if they had sown alternative crops and how this had worked out. The ban on the cultivation and production of opium and the use, trade and transport of all illegal narcotics was announced in April , at the beginning of the main opium harvest season. Typically, small and poor yielding, these crops were not well established and were a much easier target for the authorities. Much was made of these efforts with videos of crop destruction posted on social media by the Ministry of Interior as well as by individual commanders and farmers. The IEA then began to enforce the ban nationwide in the autumn of when farmers normally sow the seeds to harvest in the following spring. Just how severely became evident from satellite imagery analysis released in In Helmand, Mansfield and Alcis found, poppy cultivation had plummeted from , hectares in to hectares in April The owner of a small landholding in Greshk district who used to cultivate poppy on a part of it told AAN in early December that a group of IEA police, along with the district head of police, had come to the area to make sure poppy was not being grown in his village. He said they were even going inside residential compounds in search of poppy. The inspection was widespread and as a result, he said farmers switched to alternative crops:. The people in Greshk switched to other crops. The panels we leased out are not enough for pulling water from a deep level. A small landowner from Marja district said they began cultivating other crops, but because of the drought and lack of water, they had not yielded enough profit to cover household expenses. Just after the announcement of the ban on poppy cultivation, we switched to cultivating other crops, like wheat, cumin, coriander and cotton. But none of those can make the money we were making out of poppy. A year old farmer from Musa Qala district said he had also switched to other crops, but the drought had affected his harvest. Without rain, he said, the wheat yield was poor. In a sign of absolute desperation — no one sells their means of work unless they absolutely have to — he had sold his solar panels because he could not get a loan:. Instead I sowed wheat. In that year, I was only able to feed my children for nine months. I had to feed them, so I sold my solar panels. I was obliged to do this, because there was no alternative. The IEA tightened its grip even more in October , just ahead of the new sowing season, when it issued a new penal code on the cultivation, trafficking, trade, collection, etc of drugs and other psychoactive substances such as alcohol see here for the Pashto original and an English translation of the law by Alcis. Under this law, opium and cannabis farmers are also subjected to punishment — six months in prison for cultivating these plants on less than half a jerib of land, nine months for half a jerib and one year for more than one jerib. Regardless of the new law, some farmers decided to sow opium, especially where the growing plants are hidden from passers-by, for example, sowing opium poppy in amongst wheat, cumin, or hidden inside the confines of their own compounds. AAN interviews indicated that a small number of opium farmers in some districts had been imprisoned for short periods of time, albeit less than allowed for by the October law. He was held for a day. The primary court had asked him if he was aware of the decree of the amir. He said he told them he was aware of it, but unaware that his children had sown poppy in his barely field. The judge told him that for a half jerib of poppy he could be imprisoned for six months. The farmer was released, he said, thanks to a guarantee from the elders. The IEA sprayed his poppy, destroying it. An interviewee in Greshk district said that, last November, during the poppy sowing, the IEA had arrested some people and imprisoned them for between one and three months. He thought this was intended to frighten other farmers into not growing poppy. Lately, he said, no one had been arrested. Another man, from Musa Qala, said that there, opium had been sown inside compounds, but that officials had eradicated it as soon as they found out about it. From what sources in the province told AAN, enforcement of the new law and eradication have taken place, but it has been sporadic and spotty and not evenly applied in all districts. The acting Deputy Minister of Interior for Counter-Narcotics boasted, on 2 February, that during the past two years … Continue reading However, it is evident that it had worried farmers that enforcement might become very serious in the near future and that was enough, it seems, to curb their flouting the ban. UNODC estimated that the total income made by farmers selling the opium harvest declined by more than 92 per cent compared with , from more than 1 USD billion to just over USD million. However, anyone possessing an inventory of opium paste who had been able to afford to keep it, could now sell it for windfall profits see this AAN report because of the price rise since the IEA takeover. Prices only continued to rise. In December , Mansfield reported, opium prices had reached as much as 1, USD per kilogramme in the south and 1, USD per kilogramme in Nangrahar see this tweet. This is a three-fold increase in value in only one year; a man of opium had been selling for 1, USD in November However, it seems that prices have begun correcting themselves. He said a fall in prices had been triggered by the Iranian currency depreciation. He also said that poppy grown in some provinces of Afghanistan in , as well as in Baluchistan province of Pakistan, had eased supply, also reducing the price. The hike in prices undoubtedly profited traders and those farmers who had an inventory to sell. One farmer from Nad Ali, who had been able to afford to wait to sell his standing harvest from the crop planted before the ban came into force, described his good fortune:. My life is good. Poppy was fulfilling 80 per cent of my yearly expenses before the ban. After the ban, an extraordinary change came in my life. I kept that \[paste\] and when it soared in value, I sold it. It has also become clear that, while the IEA has focused on preventing the cultivation of opium in Helmand, trade in opium and its products, especially in major markets like Musa Qala, has continued uninterrupted. In their June report, Mansfield and Alcis said there were few restrictions on trade nationwide see also this video of opium paste production that was widely shared on Twitter in February and was reported as recorded in summer Poppy cultivation was a major employer in Helmand; it provided almost 21 million days of work for those weeding and harvesting and 61 USD million in wages in , according to Mansfield cited in this AAN report. This is why the ban has so bitterly affected poor farmers and daily wage earners, as the interviews that AAN conducted with farmers and sharecroppers show. Many, such as the year-old small landowner and sharecropper from Nad Ali, have found themselves unable to provide the basics for their families. My brother and I are now jobless. Poppy was our life. Even in a year that was bad for poppy, and it suffered from diseases, we could still at least meet our basic expenses. In good years, for example, a rainy year, we could meet per cent of our family expenses from our own poppy harvest. We could even save some money. Around 17 people from his village, he said, had left for Iran. If the situation continued, some men from his family would also have no other choice but to leave for Iran or other country. A similar story was shared by a year-old landless farmer from Greshk district, who used to rent land. His family, he said, could make around 70 per cent of their yearly household expenses from selling their poppy harvest, growing some wheat as well, just enough to feed the family. Now all that is gone. The farmer said he had been able to keep going with a nursing course — he was due to take his last semester and a classmate had paid the 6, afghani fee. He should start to be able to earn an income as a nurse soon, but other than that, he said the family was in economic distress. Some relatives were hoping to migrate to Pakistan or Iran. For the last six months my elder brother has been trying to convince my parents to let him travel to Iran, but my parents, especially my father, insists we should wait: he keeps telling us the situation for Afghans in Iran is also not good and the route is extremely risky. Another man, a year-old Greshk district, who had a small amount of land, but no water on it, so had rented land, said he and all his brothers were now jobless. We sent our brother around five months ago. After spending three months there, he sent us some money, which helped us a lot with food for the household. We wish there were jobs in our country and those who are dear to us could come back home and work here. Poppy was the main crop we were cultivating. The poppy harvest was more than enough for our annual household expenses. It also provided us with savings. His brother, he said, had been trying to get to Turkey from Iran, so far, unsuccessfully:. There are no jobs in our province since the ban. He returned home disappointed. Finally, last spring, he went to Iran. After four months, he called me to say he wanted to travel on to Turkey. Finally, he started the journey with two friends. In other districts, too, interviewees told us about labourers and farmers who had travelled illegally to Iran, with some also attempting the journey onwards, west to Turkey. The ban has also taken toll in other ways. One interviewee, a year-old farmer from Musa Qala district was quite open about his depression and worries:. I am very depressed. I have 30 jeribs \[six hectares\] of land. I had dug two tube wells. The poppy was fulfilling all the yearly expenses of my family. My life was comparatively good. We also interviewed four small business owners, one in each of our targeted districts, who pointed out that the ban had also had a knock-on effect on them. Three reported a significant loss of income since the ban. A year-old small grocer from Marja said his daily turnover had fallen almost threefold, from around , Pakistani rupees USD before the ban to about Afs 10, USD now. He had lost far more by giving customers credit. I used to give my customers food and non-food items on credit one season \[for them to pay me\] the next. The harvest was bad because of the lack of water. The water level is now very low. I had 50 customers and they were buying their household requirements from my shop on credit. I lent around Afs 2. They were good customers and my shop was running well because of their custom. Some of them have even travelled to Iran and Pakistan for work. From around 50 households in our village, around 35 people have travelled to Iran and Pakistan for work. A tailor in Nad Ali district said the ban had cost him many customers. Nowadays, he only sells new clothes around Eid:. We used to make clothes for those working in the poppy fields at different times, for example, at weeding and harvesting times. One man, however, found the ban has created opportunities. A year-old mechanic from Musa Qala district reported:. Personally speaking, my work has flourished. Many farmers said they had tried to switch to other crops in , but faced many problems because they were unfamiliar with new crops, like cumin. None mentioned support from the government. Some said they had had some support from NGOs and UN agencies to help with the transition to new crops, although it was not really sufficient. In Greshk district, a year-old farmer received a similar amount of aid, which according to him, was far from enough:. For example, they gave some 50 kilogrammes of wheat and kilogrammes of chemical fertilizer to our village. The NGO had merged three households and the households then needed to divide aid among themselves. The year-old former opium farmer from Nad Ali district whose family had switched to cultivating wheat and cumin and cotton and some vegetables in the spring, said:. We were given an aid card, valid for six months. An NGO was providing food aid to the people. We were also provided with two sacks of chemical fertilizer and a sack of seeds wheat. Some farmers bought seeds on loan, like a year-old farmer from Greshk district, who had to pay double the going price of cumin seeds because he bought them on credit:. We switched to other crops like wheat and cumin. For a man of cumin, we had to pay 4, 56 USD because we bought them on credit, instead of the normal, market price of Afs 2, 28 USD. He said that in his district an NGO employs people to clean water canals in irrigated areas or to repair unpaved roads in desert areas, paying them 9, Afghani around USD per twenty working days. Alternative livelihoods projects, ie projects that support farmers and communities to transition to licit crops and improve food security and household income, what has come so far is evidently not enough. There has been no government support and as many interviewees said, NGO assistance in the form of seeds, chemical fertilizer or free food is also not enough to change the fundamental economics of the ban: there is no short-term alternative to poppy, that brings in the same income for the same area of land and provides labouring jobs for the poorest. The idea that donors might restart alternative livelihood projects, given the multiple and multi-year failures of this concept under the Islamic Republic, has worried many, among them United States Institute of Peace USIP economist, William Byrd, who was also critical with the way the IEA introduced the ban, calling it bad for Afghanistan and bad for the world. He wrote :. But this ban, lacking any development strategy and especially at a time when the economy is so weak that displaced opium poppy farmers and workers have no viable alternative sources of income, is not the right way to start on that path. There will probably be a counter narcotics-driven, knee-jerk response that the effectively implemented Taliban opium ban is a good thing. However, history amply demonstrates that banning opium in Afghanistan by itself is not sustainable, nor does it address the drug problem in Europe and elsewhere. Rather, \[s\]ome forms of basic needs rural development aid could be helpful — agricultural support, small-scale rural infrastructure, income generation, small water projects, investments in agro-processing and marketing, and the like. It is also worth noting that for Afghanistan, as a whole, there is no viable alternative to poppy. Illegal narcotic production is one of the very few sectors where Afghanistan has a comparative advantage. Given that the economy contracted by a fifth in and has continued to contract since, albeit at a lower rate, poppy cultivation will be sorely missed at the macro-economic level, as well see World Bank reporting from October and AAN analysis for discussion of the wider economic travails facing Afghanistan. Afghans, nationwide, have been struggling immensely, because of food insecurity, lack of jobs and living in an internationally isolated country. The ban on poppy cultivation has only exacerbated the crisis for many of those who were directly or indirectly dependent on the opium economy, who previously had enjoyed a far more secure life. Many are now facing poverty, debt and feeling they need to migrate. Many are faced with depression and anxiety and are at their wits end. The government did nothing to prepare farmers and communities for the harm the ban on cultivation would do to them. It announced the ban without any planning or consultation with experts or potential donors who might have been able to help manage the transition from illicit to licit crops. There have started to be higher-level moves to get a conversation going between the IEA and international donors and neighbours. In that light, there has been another interesting recent meeting. It remains unclear who Arlacchi actually was representing at the meeting, or whether it was just his own personal initiative. Donor support for Afghans hurt by the ban on opium cultivation may come, but it will come late for those farmers already hard hit and probably not at all for day labourers. The ban on opium cultivation has created a huge hole in the economy of a province like Helmand that will not easily or quickly be filled. It is also not clear over which period of time these famers received the income. The comparative price with poppy shows why it is not an alternative, especially for small farmers: UNODC figures for suggested farmers could make USD per hectare for wheat, compared to USD 10, for poppy. The acting Deputy Minister of Interior for Counter-Narcotics boasted, on 2 February, that during the past two years more than 2, counter-narcotics operations were conducted across the country, with over 1, drug production factories destroyed and more than 13, individuals arrested on charges of the production, sale and trafficking of illegal drugs. Ali Mohammad Sabawoon More from this author. Jelena Bjelica More from this author. Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network Sign up. In Afghanistan, wheat is generally grown as a subsistence staple, not a cash crop. The IEA official narrative is of a strong and determined counter-narcotic effort. The IEA banned trading in Pakistani rupees and this is why the interviewee expressed his earnings after the ban in afghanis.

Kabul buying blow