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The afghan opium trade
<div class="project_author_links"> <span class="project"> From
Project: <a href="http://www.piratemyfilm.com/projects/175">The Scag
Times</a> </span>
<div class="pmf_clear">By: <a
href="http://www.piratemyfilm.com/profiles/943-thescagtimes">thescagtimes</a></div>
<span class="author_link"> </span> </div>
<div class="pmf_clear"> </div>
<p>Some villagers, like 18-year-old Abdullah Jan, have to walk for
hours before reaching Shaddle. The tiredness on his face explains it
all – if he is stopped by government agents or bandits he would lose
money that feeds his family for the entire year.</p>
<p>“I left at four in the morning and got here after four hours. I have
brought 10kg of opium from my fields to sell.”</p>
<p>After a hard bargain with Gul Mohammad Khan, the opium dealer, he is
getting the equivalent of $1,400 – more than he can get for any other
crop.</p>
<p>He is one of hundreds of people who travel to Shaddle bazaar to sell
and buy opium.</p>
<p>The US has recently given the Afghan government more than $10bn in
assistance, but most of the money will be spent on security rather than
encouraging alternative sources of income.</p>
<p>Afghanistan produces 92 percent of the world’s opium, a thick paste
from poppy used to make heroin, according to the latest U.N. Office on
Drugs and Crime report.</p>
<p>That is the equivalent of 3,500 tonnes leaving the country each year.</p>
<p>Helmand produces most of the poppy.</p>
<p>About two thirds of the opium is turned into heroin before it leaves
Afghanistan and goes on to feed some 15 million addicts, mainly in
Russia, Iran and Europe.</p>
<p>UN findings say an opium market worth $65bn (£39bn) funds global
terrorism, caters to 15 million addicts, and kills 100,000 people every
year.</p>
<p>Since 2005, the Taliban have made up to $160 million (0.2% market) a
year from taxing cultivation and trade of the crop, according to
foreign diplomats.</p>
<p>The UN says corruption, lawlessness and uncontrolled borders result
in only 2% of Afghan opiates being seized locally.</p>
<p>The UN says more Russians die annually from Afghan drugs than Soviet
soldiers were killed during its Afghan conflict.</p>
<p>The UN estimates that Afghan land dedicated to opium poppy
cultivation — some 45,000 to 65,000 hectares — is up to eight and a
half times larger than the amount for 2001.</p>
<p>Antonio Maria Costa, head of the <span class="caps">UNODC</span>,
said Afghanistan’s opium production could create a “perfect storm” in
the region.</p>
<p>“The Afghanistan/Pakistan border region has turned into the world’s
largest free-trade zone in anything and everything that is illicit –
drugs of course, but also weapons, bomb-making equipment, chemical
precursors, drug money, even people and migrants,” he said.</p>
<p>Iran intercepts about 20% of the opium entering its territory and
Pakistan 17% – but Russia and some European countries are seizing less
than 5%.</p>
<p>One gram of heroin worth $3 in Kabul is worth up to $100 on the
streets of London, Milan or Moscow, it is estimated.</p>
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