Counter narcotics

The Afghan drugs trade

Afghanistan is the world's leading supplier of illegal opiates, trafficked as opium, morphine and heroin. Over 95% of the heroin on the UK's streets originates from Afghanistan.

There are clear links between the drugs trade and the insurgency. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that the Taliban derive approximately $150m per year from Afghan narcotics. Both the drug traffickers and the Taliban have a common interest in resisting Afghan Government authority and international forces. The drugs trade also fuels corruption, which undermines the development of an effective Afghan state.

The UNODC 2011 Afghan Opium Survey (published on 11 October) states that opium poppy cultivation nationally was 131,000 hectares, a rise of 7% compared to 2010. However, it is important to set this rise against the backdrop of opium prices which have more than doubled in the last year, and an overall fall in cultivation nationally of 36% between 2007 and 2010. Furthermore, in 2011 there was also a 3% decrease in cultivation in Helmand, the most prolific opium producing province. This third successive annual reduction is testament to the efforts of the Provincial Governor and his comprehensive approach to countering the drugs trade.

Countering narcotics in Afghanistan

We are under no illusions – tackling the drugs trade takes time and it will not happen overnight. It requires a long-term and comprehensive approach which addresses security, economic and rural development as well as law enforcement. The UK continues to support both the Afghan Government and its institutions, to achieve sustainable progress against the drugs trade.

Afghan National Drug Control Strategy

The UK supports the Afghan Government in implementing its National Drug Control Strategy. It is a comprehensive approach which covers a range of activities to counter the drugs trade. These include building government institutions and law enforcement capacity, targeted eradication programmes and the development of alternative livelihoods, information and education campaigns and engagement with countries in the region.

Building institutions

The Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics, responsible for coordinating Afghan Government counter-narcotics activities, has been operational since December 2004. In 2011-2012 the UK is providing over £2.5m directly supporting the Ministry’s work and, with partner institutions, a further £1.5m developing the Ministry’s capacity to deliver.

Law enforcement

The UK has helped establish and develop the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA), the leading drugs law enforcement agency, which operates in all 34 provinces of the country. The UK supports the CNPA through training and equipping the force, and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) mentors specialist units within the force.

Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice Task Force was established with UK support in December 2005. It consists of Afghan investigators, prosecutors and judges, and is designed to work alongside the CNPA on drug prosecutions.

Arrests of traffickers and seizures of large amounts of drugs and precursor chemicals are being made, with convictions for drugs-related offences on the rise. Weapons are often seized at the same time, highlighting the links between drug traffickers and the insurgency.

From 2010-2011, the Criminal Justice Task Force prosecuted 621 drug offenders averaging a 16 year sentence per person. This included 35 public officials (including the Governor of Delaram district in Nimruz province) and marks an increase from 440 drug offenders prosecuted during 2009-2010.

Alternative livelihoods, eradication and information campaigns

The UK recognises that eradicating opium poppy is an important part of a comprehensive approach. But without developing viable legal livelihoods eradication is not sustainable and would make farmers increasingly vulnerable. A sustainable reduction in opium poppy cultivation requires improvements in the living standards of the rural population, including diversifying income sources, and security, which takes time to achieve.

The UK-led Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team has been supporting the Helmand Provincial Governor’s counter-narcotics programme. This Afghan-led programme targets Afghan farmers who grow opium poppy, providing them instead with subsidised wheat seed, fertiliser and technical assistance. It is designed to reduce opium cultivation and to reduce the impact of the drugs trade on governance, the economy and security. In 2011, the Helmand Food Zone Programme provided wheat seed to over 42,000 farmers. This is complemented by public information campaigns and targeted eradication of opium poppy.

Watch a video: Afghanistan: Life beyond poppies

Regional cooperation

The Afghan drugs trade cannot be addressed within the borders of Afghnanistan alone. The drugs trade has a corrosive effect beyond the borders of Afghanistan, undermining wider regional stability and facilitating the flow of drugs to other markets.

The UK is committed to long-term support of the UNODC, the major long-term multilateral partner for the Afghan Government on counter-narcotics, and its work on regional cooperation including key elements of the long-term counter narcotics architecture.

For instance, the Central Asian Regional Information Coordination Centre (CARICC) coordinates the efforts to combat drug trafficking in CARICC member states. The Triangular Initiative provides a forum for Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan to discuss combined cross-border counter-narcotics activities.

Afghanistan actively seeks to improve its bilateral relations within the region, which have an important role to play supporting Afghanistan’s development into a stable and secure state. The Afghan government is working to develop strategies for improved regional co-operation, with support from the UK and other international partners and institutions. On 5-6 September 2011, the Ministry for Counter Narcotics hosted the second regional Counter Narcotics Conference in Kabul. This involved the counter narcotics agencies of Tajikistan, Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The UK-funded conference discussed ways to enhance co-operation across the region in tackling the drugs trade and agreed on a number of joint measures to take this forward.

What drives opium cultivation in Afghanistan?

Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is driven a a number of complex factors including opium and wheat prices, harvests, weather, water supply, security, politics and economics. This report by an independent expert looks at factors which influenced planting of opium poppy in late 2010.

"Why don't we just buy the opium?"

A number of articles argue why this isn't the solution.

Carnegie Endowment - Frederic Grare concludes that, given Afghanistan's situation, the current policies in place are optimum.

Transform Media News - Is licensing Afghan opium poppy a silver bullet solution? If only says Steve Rolles.

Macfarlan Smith (PDF, opens in new window) - The Senlis report is superficially attractive in practice but could become a financial and moral millstone.