Narcotic And Terrorism In Afghanistan

Narco-terrorism in Afghanistan, a warning!

The relation between narcotic and terrorism is generally accepted. It is supposed that narcotics and drugs financially support terrorism. At the same time, terrorism and narcotics (especially cultivating of poppy) are two major problem of Afghanistan. Although evidences show that there is close relation between narcotic and terrorism and insurgency groups (Taliban), but the narcotic problem seems complicated in Afghanistan. There are different groups of people who cultivate poppy so different solutions should be held simultaneously. Therefore, the solution for eradication of poppy should be comprehensive and different. Thus I suggest some Social and Economical solutions as well as maintaining present policies and strategies for it. In Afghanistan different category of people cultivate poppy. We can classify them in three major groups: 1.Terrorists and Taliban: In some insecure provinces Taliban cultivate poppy

directly or they exploit from poppy cultivation by others. They usually increase the level of their attacks in order to make the situation more insecure for gathering their harvest. We can see the relation of narcotics with Taliban and their Terrorist supporters in provinces that insecurity and narcotic exist to gather, like Helmand province. Also in other provinces that poppy cultivation is more common, the insecurity and Taliban’s operation is more common as well. It clearly shows the tight relation between narcotic and terrorism. 2.Warlords, drug dealers and smugglers: Because of insecurity, administrative

corruption and three decades of war, a mafia of narcotic and illicit trade on it has been formed in Afghanistan in last years. These groups are a serious threat for

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Afghanistan’s peace and stability and some how for worlds security and stability. These groups similar to terrorists and Taliban are enemies of peace, rule of law and development in Afghanistan. Because they can take benefits extremely from insecure situation so they provoke every threats of security in order to do their dealing. They have relation with Taliban and they fight with police and National Army so often. 3.Poor farmers: This group has a high dependency to poppy cultivation. Because

of war, drought and backwardness in agriculture aspects, lots of poor farmer are desperate to cultivate poppy. So, they have the only choice to do so. They have expectation from government to support them and provide the possibilities of cultivating other necessary crop, for instance, they need reformed seeds of plants, water and marketing facilities for their products. They ask for alternative crops in order to abandon poppy cultivation. As mentioned above, the solution for eradication of poppy should be comprehensive and multi aspectual. The present solution that Afghanistan’s government has relied on is fighting against cultivating of poppy, destroying its farms and expanding rule of law. This is good and important solution but it is not always practical and useful. In some places even it can cause insurgency or at least raises the dissatisfaction of people from government. In addition the government has not the capacity to eradicate it from everywhere, therefore peoples cooperation is a strong necessity. Two other solutions are social and economical solution. Economic solution is included of helping farmers economically. It means that alternative crop should be replaced instead of poppy. It also means that other facilities should be provided for farmers including rebuilding of agriculture infrastructures and grant marketing for their products. The positive point of this solution is that we can attract people’s cooperation, something that is very important in present situation. It is important to take it into consideration that

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alternative crops and ways of attracting people’s cooperation differs from one place to other. Therefore several research and communications with people is necessary. Social solution means that we rely on social powers in this campaign. If we pay attention to Afghanistan’s sociology, we can find that still there are tribes and ethnic groups. Still chief of tribes, scholars, elders of ethnic groups and even in some places feudal have important role in Afghanistan. No plan for removing narcotics can be successful, without their cooperation. Therefore it is necessary to think about ways to attract their cooperation. Jirga or local councils are a sample of gathering of these kinds of people. Government can submit authority to these councils and encourage them to ban poppy cultivation. This doesn’t mean that government should make the central government weak by empowering of several local powers but as a matter of fact they are very strong and parts of Afghanistan’s facts and customary law. It means that use them in way of peace and development. A sample of there decision is in southern province of Afghanistan, Paktia. Jirga of elders and scholars banned cooperating with Taliban and assigned a strict sanction for breaking of this decision that was setting on fire the wrongdoer’s dwelling. The result of that was a rapid reduction in cooperating with Taliban. It shows that how important role those people have in Afghanistan. The positive result of this solution is that we can make a people coalition against narcotic and when we will be able to make this coalition, we can talk about coalition against terrorism. This coalition can be the most effective weapon in destroying and removing of Terrorists. In conclusion, narcotic and terrorism is the two most serious problems of Afghanistan that threats peace and development in country. These two problems are related to each other and present solutions and strategies are not successful to counter both problem. This failure is mostly because of not paying attention to different categories of people who are involved in these activities. According to

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Afghanistan's economical and social situation and features, economical and social solutions are necessary to be considered in this campaign. The firs solution includes economical funds in large aspect while the second includes using every potential social possibility in this (war) like Jirgas.

Rohullah Azizi Kabul Afghanistan 11/10/2008

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