Drugs Production and Trafficking in Afghanistan

In a country awash with weapons and drugs, where the global system of exchange – the currency – had been devalued to such an extent that it has been more lucrative to use opium as a form of barter, Afghanistan has become one of the poorest countries in the world. Yet the most stupendous growth in Afghanistan has been of the Narcotics industry. The irony of the situation in Afghanistan is that it was during the United Nation’s decade against drug abuse between 1991 and 2001 that the country earned the mantle of being at the center of the global Narcotics trade. It is in this backdrop that this book examines the extent and pattern of drugs trade in Afghanistan in the light of historical and political circumstances. It deals with the state of affairs leading to the rise of the Taliban, besides throwing light on the Taliban patronage of drug cultivation and trafficking of Narcotics. The book unravels the close connection between the arms trade and drug money from the time of the Afghan Jihad till date, and gives an insight into the impact of arms-for-trade economy in Afghanistan upon both its immediate neighbours and other countries in the region.