Political Economy of Narcotics in Afghanistan

There are many problems that are clustering around globe as the issues of hunger, poverty, disease and other socio-political and economic injustice. These issues if not addressed, will continue to generate new anti-social activities, thereby can creating imbalance in the system. Among the antisocial activities which the world is watching today one of them are Narcotics Production, its trade and consumption these problems if not addressed will turn into an international crisis of unprecedented gravity? Narcotic Consumption causes many deaths every year in the entire world, because of the substance obtained from it that is Opium. The maximum production of Opium takes place in Afghanistan. The other concerns are large production, manufacturing of illegal substances as marijuana along with the revival of poppy cultivation and then smuggled through Afghanistan to peripheral and cross-regional countries. The past eighteen years have witnessed significant changes vis-à-vis people of Afghanistan as they have striven to establish an independent state with a market economy governed under pluralistic democracy. These changes besides the contemporary anti social movements as Hizbul Islami, and al-Qaeda are fuelling the country's Opium trade to a large extent. The problem is a serious concern in the future because it has a tendency to grow more and more as Afghanistan is about to complete the major project which will connect the South Asia, Central Asia and Middle East. That is New Silk Route, which is one of the biggest reconstructions happening in Eurasian Content after the disorganisation of Soviet Union.

In this context the study would attempt to access the relationship between illicit drugs and state failures in Afghanistan. How war on drugs has served as a pretext to intervene in Afghanistan. It is thus significant in analyzing the impact of International Legislation through United Nations or US policy approaches in fighting the continued Narcotic Trade and Opium Production in Afghanistan.