Opium in a Time of Uncertainty: State Formation, Diplomacy, and Drug Control in Afghanistan During the Musahiban Dynasty, 1929-1978
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OPIUM IN A TIME OF UNCERTAINTY: STATE FORMATION, DIPLOMACY, AND DRUG CONTROL IN AFGHANISTAN DURING THE MUSAHIBAN DYNASTY, 1929-1978 A dissertation presented by James Tharin Bradford to The Department of History In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of History Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts April, 2013 1 OPIUM IN A TIME OF UNCERTAINTY: STATE FORMATION, DIPLOMACY, AND DRUG CONTROL IN AFGHANISTAN DURING THE MUSAHIBAN DYNASTY, 1929-1978 A dissertation presented by James Tharin Bradford ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University April, 2013 2 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the role of opium in the political and economic development of Afghanistan from a world historical perspective. My research reveals that the Afghan government’s adoption of American anti-narcotics policy after World War II led it to enforce prohibitions and anti-smuggling laws that proved divisive among rural Afghans, who were both culturally ambivalent toward opium use and increasingly dependent on revenue from the opium trade. In particular, by the late 1960s and 1970s, when the global demand for narcotics exploded, Afghanistan emerged as an ideal source for illicit hash and opium. However, to maintain a steady flow of American money and aid, which it was increasingly dependent, the Afghan government had to enforce the culturally and economically divisive opium laws. More important, the crackdown on the opium trade coincided with broader political conflicts throughout the country. Thus, I recast the history of opium in Afghanistan to demonstrate that drug control, as a reflection of the ambitions, desires, and needs of the Mushiban state, were fundamental in shaping the conditions of statelessness and lawlessness that are commonly thought to characterize the Afghan opium industry today. The flourishing opium trade, then, is not simply the result of a fragmented state but rather a critical component of the historical process of state formation, social resistance, and fragmentation in the region. 3 Acknowledgements Arguably the hardest section of my dissertation to complete has been the acknowledgements. I am happy to finally express my gratitude to the teachers, colleagues, friends, and loved ones who guided and inspired me through my initial years in academia. First and foremost, a special thanks goes to the late Dr. Christina Gilmartin. Before her passing, Chris was one of the few professors who believed in my work. She not only convinced me to pursue my doctorate despite having entirely different geographic and topic specialties but she spent the time to learn the literature of drugs and Afghanistan to accommodate my needs. If not for Chris I would never have pursued a doctoral degree, and for that I am forever grateful. And without further delay I would like to thank my dissertation committee. In the History Department, my advisor, Heather Streets-Salter, provided me with keen insights and critiques that helped guide and focus my project. I am especially grateful for her willingness to take the chair after the passing of Prof. Gilmartin. Tom Havens gave so much of his time and energy to my intellectual and professional development. He is the role model for everything I hope to become. Lastly, I want to express my sincere gratitude to Thomas Barfield in the Anthropology Department at Boston University. It was his class that first introduced me to Afghanistan. But more important, he was the one who exhibited incredible patience in dealing with the many variations of the project. For his personal and professional insights, I give my tremendous gratitude. 4 In addition to my committee, I wish to thank the friends and mentors among my classmates at Northeastern who could be counted on not only for their intellectual insight but also for an important pint at Punters. To Andrew Jarboe, Burleigh Hendrickson, Zachary Scarlett, Samantha Christiansen, Malcolm Purinton, Ethan Hawkley, Yan Li, and Stacy Farenthold: I could not have done it without you and I love you all. I met many wonderful and stimulating colleagues on my travels for research and conferences. I want to thank Alfie Paul at the National Archives in College Park for his time and patience for helping me figure just what exactly I was doing. I would like to thank Hirad Dinavari at the Library of Congress who was the model of helpfulness and responsiveness. For taking the time out of their hectic schedules to talk about their work from many years ago, many thanks to Terry Burke, Doug Wankel, Joe Keefe, and Elizabeth Jones. I would like to thank Professors James Mills and Patricia Barton for helping with research and professional development during my presentations for the Alcohol and Drug History Society. I am also grateful for the following sources of financial support. At Northeastern, the Department of History and the Graduate College of Social Sciences and Humanities. I was fortunate to receive the John F. Richards Fellowship from the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies for archival research. Last and most of all, thank you to my family. To my siblings Will, Leslie, and Marion, thank you for the unyielding support. To my grandparents who gave up on me becoming a lawyer and accepted me as an historian. To my parents, John and Marjorie, who first introduced me to history and never gave up on my dream. It is to you I promise my first book. 5 It is to my wife and kids I dedicate this dissertation. To Beatrice and Lewis, you are the inspiration of my life. Your love, energy, and support push me to be the best I can be. And to my wife Cara, who took care of our two kids when I was away from home and who spent countless hours listening to me talk about my project, I love you, you are my best friend, and I thank you with all of my heart. It is your amazing patience and support for all that I want to do in this life that inspires me everyday. 6 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 4 Table of Contents 7 Introduction 8 Chapter 1 35 Chapter 2 91 Chapter 3 130 Chapter 4 165 Chapter 5 213 Conclusion 262 Works Cited 269 7 Introduction There is a need to recognize that social and political stability, as well as wider economic growth, are essential preconditions for eliminating opium poppy cultivation on a sustainable basis in Afghanistan. Consequently, it is impossible to isolate illicit drugs from the wider issue of governance in Afghanistan; the two are intrinsically linked and, as such, will require a clear and coherent strategy to address them.1 After three decades of war and internal political conflict, Afghanistan has become the single largest source of illicit opium in the world. The size and impact of the opium trade is staggering. In 1999, Afghanistan produced nearly 4,600 metric tons of opium, roughly 80 percent of the total illicit opium produced globally that year.2 Despite the invasion of Afghanistan by American forces after the attacks of 9/11, as well as the establishment the new government under Hamid Karzai, opium production continued to grow. In 2007, Afghanistan produced an estimated 8,200 metric tons of opium, the largest single-year output ever.3 Opium has become so important to the Afghan economy that in 2011, the UN estimated the total value of Afghanistan’s illicit opium economy to be $1.4 billion, approximately 9 percent of the country’s GDP.4 As opium expert David MacDonald suggests in the quotation above, opium thrived in the environment of 1 Mansfield, David. “Alternative Development in Afghanistan: The Failure of Quid Pro Quo.” Paper prepared for the International Conference on Alternative Development in drug control and cooperation, Feldafing, January 7-12, 2002 by David Mansfield 16/08/01. (Pg 13) (www. davidmansfield.org, accessed May 7, 2012) 2 UNODC. The Opium Economy in Afghanistan: An International Problem. New York: United Nations Publications, 2003. (28) 3 UNODC. Afghanistan: Opium Survey 2011. United Nations Publications, October 2011. (15) 4 UNODC. Afghanistan Opium Survey 2011. New York: United Nations Publications, December 2011. (3) 8 statelessness and lawlessness that has come to characterize Afghanistan in recent decades. My research uses a longer historical analysis to exploain how the relationship between the Musahiban government,5 its various state-building projects, and Afghan society were fundamental to the emergence of opium. The clear need to understand why and how opium endures despite the continued US presence is fundamental to assessing the larger aim of US policy in Afghanistan of building a functional and stable state. As a result, a massive body of work has emerged that explores the profound impact of illicit opium on the social, political, and economic dynamics of contemporary Afghanistan. The breadth and depth of the contemporary analysis is impressive. Anyone interested in drugs or Afghanistan can now easily dissect almost any aspect of the contemporary drug trade. One can examine the role of opium as a form of labor6 or credit,7 or analyze the root causes of opium’s persistence.8 The issue of opium has been elevated even further by the United States’ “War on Terror.”9 International organizations, such as the United Nations 5 The Musahiban dynasty was established by Mohammad Nadir Shah in 1929 and lasted until the death of Mohammad Daud Khan in 1978. Part of the Mohammadzai sect of the Barakzai Pashtuns, the Musahiban laid the foundation for the formation of the Afghan state and ushered in an era of relative stability throughout its 50 year reign.