DRUGS AND GUNS VIS-À-VIS TERRORISM
Russian gangsters who smuggle drugs into Britain and Europe are bying cheap heroin
from Afghanistan and paying for it with guns.Smugglers told The Independent how
Russian arms dealers meet Taliban drug lords at a bazaar near old Afghan-Soviet
border,deep in Tajakistan’s desert.The bazaar exists solely to trade Afghan drugs for
Rusian guns and sometimes a bit of the sex on sideline.
The drugs are mainly destined for British streets.The guns go straight to the Taliban
frontline.The weapons on sale include machine guns,sniper rifles and anti-aircraft
weapons like the ones used in the attempt to assassinate the Afghan President Hamid
Karzai.
“We never sell guns for money” boasted one of the smugglers.”We exchange them for
ammunition and Kalashnikovs”.
The drugs most;y come from Helmand,where most of Britain’s 7800 troops are
based.The opium grown there is turned into heroin at factories inside Afghanistan,sold
into Tajikistan and smuggled to Europe.The guns are broken down into parts,smuggled
back into Afghanistan and delivered to Taliban and Al-Qaida.One kilogram of heroin can
buy about 30 AK-47 assault rifles at the bazaar.
NATO claims the Taliban get between 40 to 60 percent of their income from drugs.The
smugglers’ claims suggest the real cost could be far higher.
The smugglers described a bleak village with no homes,hidden in the desert near the
border.Inside open air courtyards upto 300 shopkeepers sit in small booths.They act as
the agents of the Russian mafia who supply the guns and take away the drugs.The
Afghans are agents of corrupt officials in their government,said a mid-level Lieutenant
Daoud.
Around them wander and lurk Tajik prostitutes,selling themselves for a few scraps of
surplus heroin.”They will do anything.They just want some heroin and we always have
some spare”,said another smuggler.
We interviewed four smugglers in the lawless border areas north and east of Kunduz,a
city in northern Afghanistan,as well as a Taliban go-between who was visiting from
Helmand.
Speaking from his headquarters in Kunduz province,Daoud said Afghan smugglers lug
sacks of grade-A heroin across the river Oxus,which marks the Tajik border.They drive
pick ups as far as they can,take motorbikes where the cars can’t go,and finish the
journey on foot.
“We leave early in the morning and get there around 9 am the next day” he said.”Their
aren’t even any tracks because we never ride the motorbikes to the same place
twice”,he said.
The heroin is manufactured from harvested opium across Afghanistan in the factories
situated in remote Pamir mountains in the Badakhshan region.Here opium is turned into
heroin.From Badakhshan,it is brought west to Kunduz,for the trip to Tajakistan.The
weapons follow similar routes,but in the opposite direction,south and east to the fighting.
“We are like a company”,said Daoud.”We have big sponsors who support us in the
government.”
A kilogram of the best Afghan heroin is worth pound 600 in Afghanistan.It is worth twice
as much at the bazaar in TajikstanBut rather than take cash,they take weapon
parts,because they are of double their value in Afghanistan.An AK 47 assault rifle costs
pound 50 at the bazaar.It is worth about pound 100 in the northern Afghanistan,and
even more in the southa and east where demand for guns is higher, because of the
fighting.
The Taliban go-between said fighters in Helmand expect to get six AK 47’s for one kg of
good quality heroin,a similar number of rocket-propelled grenades or a dozen boxes of
ammunition.
British special forces have arrested or killed drug smugglers linked to the
insurgency,alongside a secretive unit of the Afghan army called 333,but the bulk of
International security Assistance Force is handicapped by its mandate which does not
include counter-narcotics operations,unless they can be linked to the insurgency.
The smugglers claim they are “untouchable” because their bosses include cabinet level
officials in the government.British officials suspect senior government insiders are
involved in the drugs trade,but they struggled to get support from Mr.Karzai,or the
evidence to arrest them.
Opium production has soared since 2001.The head of British lead efforts to crack down
on the crop,David Belgrove said; “This proves what we and the international community
have been saying.There’s clear evidence that the drugs trade fuels the insurgency.”
The Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan,the US general,Dan Mcneill,pledged to
take his mandate to the limit to target drug traffickers.But so far,smugglers insist they
are not feeling the pinch.
Voilence last year reached the record highs,and the Taliban have launched two attacks
in Kabul this year..”The heroin is what lets us fight”,said the Taliban go-between.
(To be concluded)
-DR.NAVRAJ SINGH SANDHU , www.navraj@gmail.com