The Unholy Trinity - The United States, The Drug Trade and The Taliban

As both Afghan and international citizens flee the country for fear of their lives, Afghanistan once again grips our attention for the most solemn of reasons. The Taliban have taken control of the nation. But there is a key part of this story that the world needs to address if we are going to counter the growing numbers of terrorist and criminal organisations that threaten global stability. America has a drug problem. Or maybe ‘a problem with drugs' is a more fitting expression. Many commentators and scholars refer to America’s involvement in Afghanistan as the nation’s ‘longest war’ but America’s 'War On Drugs’ has been going on almost twice as long. Beginning in 1971, the War On Drugs has consumed over a trillion dollars in state funding, has led to racially biased mass incarcerations, unjust deportations of minority populations and puts an enormous strain on the criminal justice system in the United States. Their draconian approach has had little effect on drug use however, being that in 2017 the United States had the highest percentage of drug use disorders worldwide, with 1 in 30 people being addicted to illicit substances. Although recent re-evaluations of drug policy, such as the legalisation of cannabis in certain states looks promising, Washington’s attempts to limit the illicit drug trade has left many scars and re-evaluations are doing little to curb the damage already done. The problem here is that America’s aggressive policies concerning the illicit drug trade are leading to its proliferation. As was seen during Prohibition, the illegality of a substance does not make it less popular, it actually means the opposite. For example, during Prohibition alcohol consumption in the United States actually increased by 60-70%. During Prohibition however, the world was less interconnected and now domestic policies have international consequences. For example, if a product’s supply chain begins in Latin America and ends in the US, its status in the US will have an effect on the country where it is being produced. This is largely due to the size and importance of the US economy. This explains cocaine’s increasing popularity through the 70s to the mid 80s (the beginning and height of America’s War On Drugs). America’s attitude toward the illicit drug trade changes very little on the international stage too. A US Government document from 2015 mentioned Latin America and Afghanistan by name and emphasised reducing drug production and transit whilst hardly mentioning re-categorisation, legalisation, policy revision and rehabilitation. This document is not anomalous, the United States’ Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA have been directly involved in countless international operations to suppress the illicit drug trade for decades, even now currently having 91 foreign field offices in 69 different countries around the world. America’s attempts to stomp out international drug use are hardly secretive. This is concerning as both history and basic economics tell us that as a product’s illegality increases so does its price as it becomes harder to manufacture, distribute and sell due to the pressures placed on the trade and the danger this creates. This is why the illicit drug trade is valued at 400 billion dollars annually, the international coffee industry being worth 102 billion and the global dairy trade being worth around 500 billion to put this figure into perspective. Products are worth what people think they are worth, if the ‘leader of the free world’ deems the product highly illegal worldwide, it is also very valuable worldwide. This problem is especially distressing however when the nation pushing this kind of attitude to the illicit drug trade is a nation that dominates every aspect of international relations - including its institutions, its military actions, its economics and even the nation states it allies itself with. This is clear with opium, which is worth 6 million dollars per square kilometre, rice in comparison being valued at 140,000 dollars per square kilometre. It has been reported that the Taliban benefit from the drug trade through cultivation taxes, taxing around 10% on poppies grown by Afghan farmers whilst also apparently taxing the laboratories that produce the opium too. A US Commander had recently stated that the drug trade accounts for roughly 60% of the Taliban’s funding, whilst the BBC report that the Taliban’s total earnings from the narcotics industry can be up to $400m each year. Scholars and journalists have pointed to how farmers in Afghanistan would much rather produce poppies for opium considering their economic alternatives, which among the best would be joining the government military - not an attractive option, but their collapsed government provides few other opportunities. The profitability of opium production in impoverished Afghan communities leaves them vulnerable to the Taliban’s influence, who can oversee production and take profits for their own uses. There is a reason Afghanistan is the world’s largest opium producer, accounting for 90% of the world’s opium. This phenomenon was amplified when American troops began leaving Afghanistan, as the Afghan economy was structured around the American presence and the influence of the American dollar. To recap, draconian policy where illicit products are concerned increases the value of a product and counter-intuitively encourages production because of how lucrative the practice becomes. This is truly a failure of foreign policy, but not just in America, in the international community too. Policy makers worldwide must confront its archaic stance on psychoactive substances if we are to truly combat the economic dependence on narcotic production it creates and the predatory organisations benefitting from the illicit drug trade. Until then, insurgencies like the Taliban in Afghanistan and the cartels in Central and South America will continue to dictate the lives of millions of citizens.