Opium as a source of insecurity in Afghanistan
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2024
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Springer
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González y Gómez del Miño, P., Calvillo Cisneros, J.M. (2024). Opium as a Source of Insecurity in Afghanistan. In: Berenguer López, F.J., Castien Maestro, J.I. (eds) The Failure of a Pseudo-Democratic State in Afghanistan. Contributions to Security and Defence Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59408-3_10
Abstract
Opium is an alkaloid that comes from the Papaver Somniferum or opium poppy with a poppy-like appearance, whose origin has not been fully specified, although the first references are found in Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians, being the latter those who used it as an analgesic, to extend later through Central Asia. For most of its history, Afghanistan has played a relatively minor role in global opium production, which focused mainly on the triangle of Thailand, Laos, and Burma. The growth of opium production from the 1980s is due to three main reasons: (a) the need for funding to combat the invasion of the Soviets; (b) restrictions on this kind of crop in Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan; and (c) the failure of eradication policies that have resulted in greater poverty and insecurity.
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Afghanistan continues to be the center of opium production in the whole world. The policies of eradication of crops undertaken from the beginning of international intervention have not delivered the expected results. The international dependency and the economic and institutional weakness of this country have been aggravated by the rise of a narco-economy that causes insecurity, poverty, corruption, and criminality. The multidimensional character that entails the production and distribution of opium comes down to a social, political, and economic issue. Opium poppy production is one of the factors directly infuencing the stability of
Afghanistan. This chapter tackles the evolution of opium and its connection with security and development and the lack of capacity to reduce production, distribution, and sales since the intervention of the United States. An alternative could lie in a model based on legalization, but it runs up against three main obstacles: legal, political, and social.