Intelligence forum response

How does the connection between drug trafficking and terrorism in Afghanistan affect U.S. national security?

Drug trafficking in general threatens every aspect of the national security in the U.S. The way drug trafficking and terrorism in Afghanistan are connected is particularly dangerous for U.S. national security. The reason being that “Afghanistan has reemerged as world’s leading supplier of illicit opium, morphine and heroin… reaching an estimated street value of US$60 billion” (Singh 2011, 76-77). Of this money only 20% makes it back to the “farm-gate” income (Singh 2011, 76-77). So who is actually getting the money, especially when Afghanistan is one of the poorest nations in the world? According to Amar Singh, big powers tend to use narcotics for financial and well calculated objectives while smaller powers use the profits from illicit trafficking to fund robust defenses for their unstable economies (2011, 78).

During the Cold War, Afghan Jihad used drugs as a weapon against the Soviets, a plan strategized by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (Singh 2011, 84). The drugs were meant to do two things, weaken the Soviets and finance the Afghans to defeat the Soviets. Using drugs as a means to procure weapons and finance militias since the 1980s is a strategy that never quite went away. Afghan warlords finance their militias through drug money, these same militias are also “accounted under the Afghan Defence Ministry as Afghan military Force, have been assisting US coalition troops against the Taliban and their allies in the south and south-eastern Afghanistan” (Singh 2011, 85). Additionally the Karzai government in Afghanistan, who is occupied by many of the warlords behind the cultivation of poppy, has also opposed the aerial spraying of the poppy fields (Singh 2011, 85). Corruption levels in Afghanistan keep rising as the drug trade continues to embed itself in every aspect of Afghan politics (Shah 2016).

So how is drug trafficking connected to terrorism in Afghanistan? The Helmand Province is Afghan’s largest poppy cultivation territories and it belongs to the Taliban. The production and trade of drugs provides the Taliban with billions of dollars to fund their activities. During the month-long harvest the Taliban actually stop fighting and become laborers (Shah 2016). They work alongside farmers in the Helmand Province which also works as a great recruitment method. The Taliban also collect 10% of the Islamic tax on farm produce as well as the opium tax they impose on a local level (Shah 2016). The Taliban ensure that they make as much profit as they can from poppy cultivation. The financial gains from the drug trade in Afghanistan connect the corrupt government, the warlords, and terrorism together and it all affects U.S. national security. Not only do these drugs make into the U.S. claiming the lives of hundreds, it finances the very institution we are at war with. Americans buying and using drugs from Afghanistan funds the pockets of corrupt government officials, who cancelled its annual eradication campaigns in 2016, which allowed for a great harvest season in the Helmand province, and the pockets of the Taliban.

Reference List

Shah, Taimoor. 2016. “Bountiful Afghan Opium Harvest Yields Profits for the Taliban.” The New York Times, (May 4), nytimes.com, http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2015/11/27/the-drug-trade-in-afghanistan-understanding-motives-behind-farmers-decision-to-cultivate-opium-poppies/ (Accessed October 19, 2016).

Singh, Amar. 2011. Narco-Terrorism: A Case Study of Afghanistan. Scholar’s Voice: A New Way of Thinking 2, No. 1:75-88. (January- June), Centre for Defence Sciences Research & Development, JNU, New Delhi. https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/group/security-and-global-studies-common/Intelligence%20Studies/INTL446/Content/Week%207/Narcoterrorism.pdf (Accessed October 19, 2016).