SWP Research Paper Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs Citha D. Maass Afghanistan’s Drug Career Evolution from a War Economy to a Drug Economy RP 4 March 2011 Berlin All rights reserved. © Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) and Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), 2011 SWP Research Papers are peer reviewed by senior researchers and the directing staff of the Institute. They express exclusively the per- sonal views of the author(s). SWP Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs Ludwigkirchplatz 34 10719 Berlin Germany Phone +49 30 880 07-0 Fax +49 30 880 07-100 www.swp-berlin.org
[email protected] ISSN 1863-1053 Translation by David Barnes in cooperation with Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) www.aan-afghanistan.org (English version of SWP-Studie 2/2010) Table of Contents 5 Problems and Recommendations 7 The drug economy: A result of the new post-war order 10 Genesis and consolidation of the drug economy (1979–2001) 10 The expansion of drug production: External factors and central actors 11 The war economy and the war entrepreneurs: Transformation and consolidation 17 The transformation into a drug economy (2002–2008) 17 The structure of drug production in 2008 17 Doubts regarding sustainable decline 19 The interdependence between instability, neo-Taleban, and drug production 21 A misleading measure of success 22 The intertwining of political interests 26 The intertwining of economic structures 31 Conclusion and recommendations 32 Abbreviations Dr. Citha D. Maass is a researcher at SWP’s Asia Division Problems and Recommendations Afghanistan’s Drug Career Evolution from a War Economy to a Drug Economy The commercial production of drugs in Afghanistan began with the anti-Soviet jihad launched by muja- hedeen groups in 1979 with the financial and logis- tical support of the CIA, the United States and other Western states.