HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Drug Economy of Afghanistan

Paul | 23.11.2004 13:17 | Oxford

The US is set to do battle with drugs in Afghanistan. They have not exactly got a great success rate in other countries such as Colombia. The people most likely to suffer are small farmers.

Police escort
Police escort

Policeman and kid
Policeman and kid

police posing
police posing

Police praying at dusk
Police praying at dusk

Donkey boy
Donkey boy


Afghanistan: The War on Drugs

Not sure why America is concerned with defeating the drugs trade in Afghanistan as most of the drugs in the US come from central and south America, especially Colombia. You can see what a great success they have had there over a hell of a long time. However, I am sure they will be able to sort it out in no time at all.

Their strategy is an ill conceived and short term superficial show. Does not sound like the states but true. Kharzai has said he disagrees with crop spraying due to the damage to the health of locals. America did not seem to have the same concerns. This may mean that closer contact on the ground may be necessary. An Afghan special force is being set up to deal with poppy eradication. Unofficially the private security firm, Dyna Corp will be fully involved. They are the ones that stepped on the toes of someone in Wardak office resulting in a large car bomb outside one of their houses in the middle of Kabul. At the moment most of the poppies being destroyed belong to poor farmers trying to survive and pay off loans acquired against the harvest. Mow there is a lot of rhetoric about tackling the big boys and destroying heroin labs. As a friend working for the UN in drugs and crime said, ‘This is heavy shit’. They will be dealing with heavy arms, the warlords, international organizations and the Russian mafia. This will also be going on at the same time as the run up for the parliamentary elections and the power plays that will involve. Never mind they have alternatives. IOM who I work for have got a program concerning this. It will consist of implementing short term projects such as building bridges, irrigation etc employing a large or relatively large number of laborers. This will keep them busy and give them an income for a maximum of six months. So what will they do after this? Guess. If you are destroying someone’s livelihood you have to be seen as offering alternatives so this short term show is being introduced. It should take anyone at least two minutes to see the connection between IOM and the poppy eradication making us a target.

Of course drugs could be legalized in the west and thus taking a lot of the crime out of it but there is no political capital in this.

At the moment we have 9pm curfews and am not allowed to go out to restaurants or the market or walk in the street. In early December there will be the inauguration of Kharzai as president and the announcement of the cabinet. This should heighten tensions. Kharzai will have to have warlords in the cabinet but may get around it by appointing representatives of different ethnic groups who will just be mouth pieces for their warlords. So for example Dostum may not be appointed to the cabinet but one of his men may be.

On the personal front I have just got back from leave in Sri Lanka where I rented a bike and had the freedom to go where I wanted when I wanted. I still found myself answering people who asked where I was staying with, ‘Why do you want to know’. I needed the break but it was overshadowed by the fact that a friend of mine is still a hostage.


Paul

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. big thinkers — - -
Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech