Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Insurgency, Corruption Constrain Pakistan's Efforts against Afghan Drugs: UN

World Drug Report 2010 [pdf], United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, June 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistan is geographically vulnerable to opiate trafficking; UNODC estimates that approximately 40% of Afghanistan’s heroin/morphine (150 mt) transits or is consumed in Pakistan. More Afghan opiates pass through Pakistan than any other country bordering Afghanistan. Controlling this border is a major challenge; [...] The most important points for all trade, both licit and illicit, on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border are the Torkham crossing in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the Chaman checkpoint in Balochistan province. [...] The biggest vulnerability, however, is Pakistan’s immediate proximity to heroin processing zones in Afghanistan, notably the adjoining provinces of Hilmand, Nimroz and Kandahar.[...] As in neighbouring Afghanistan, drugs in Pakistan are inseparably entangled with corruption and insecurity. Currently, Pakistan’s efforts against the trafficking of Afghan opiates (and the cultivation of opium poppy) are constrained by a major cross-border insurgency and the threat of violent extremism, which has monopolized the attention of law enforcement agencies. One example is the restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) which was opium poppy-free for several years until 2003/2004, but where there has been a re-expansion of cultivation."

Read the full report [pdf].

Drug Trafficking Routes in Pakistan, World Drug Report 2010

Related articles:
UN says Afghanistan's neighbors consume most of world's opium, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 23 June 2010
SAARC nations to jointly fight drug trafficking, The Nation, 23 June 2010
Multifaceted strategy needed to fight transnational organized crime: Pakistan, The Associated Press of Pakistan, 22 June 2010
Russia and Pakistan to fight drugs threat together, The Voice of Russia, 21 June 2010

Related posts:
Drug-conflict nexus in South Asia: Beyond Taliban profits and Afghanistan, 8 June 2010
Govt revamps anti-narcotics policy to curtail drug trade, 24 March 2010
Taliban exploit porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, 5 February 2010
Pakistan faces a serious drug problem, 12 January 2010
Narco-jihad: Drug trafficking and security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 8 January 2010

Drug-Conflict Nexus in South Asia: Beyond Taliban Profits and Afghanistan

The Drug-Conflict Nexus in South Asia: Beyond Taliban Profits and Afghanistan [a chapter from The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security, and Stability by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, pdf], The Brookings Institution, 20 May 2010

EXCERPT: " [...] Let’s imagine that eradication could somehow miraculously and rapidly wipe out opium cultivation in Afghanistan, and the campaign was executed in such a way that made replanting within the country impossible. [...] By far the worst scenario from the U.S. strategic perspective would be the shift of poppy cultivation to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), or even Pakistan’s Punjab province. For over twenty years, Pakistan has been a major heroin refining and smuggling hub. It has an extensive hawala system that has been used for moving drug profits. Today, these territories also have extensive and well organized Salafi insurgent and terrorist groups that seek to limit the reach of the Pakistani state and topple Pakistan’s government. A relocation of poppy cultivation there would be highly detrimental to U.S. interests, since it would contribute to a critical undermining of the Pakistani state and fuel jihadist insurgency. Such a shift would not only increase profit possibilities for Pakistani belligerents, but also provide them with significant political capital by allowing them to become significant local employers: FATA, NWFP, Baluchistan, and Punjab are all areas with minimal employment opportunities."

Read the full chapter [pdf].

Related posts:
DynCorp, US to continue supporting anti-narcotic operations in Pakistan, 8 April 2010
Govt revamps anti-narcotics policy to curtail drug trade, 24 March 2010
Taliban exploit porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, 5 February 2010
Pakistan faces a serious drug problem, 12 January 2010
Narco-jihad: Drug trafficking and security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 8 January 2010

DynCorp, US to Continue Supporting Anti-narcotic Operations in Pakistan

DynCorp to Stay On for Anti-Narcotics Ops in Pakistan: US, The Daily Times, 8 April 2010

EXCERPT: "DynCorp International will continue to provide maintenance facilities at the Interior Ministry’s Air Wing in Balochistan and does not plan to terminate its contract with the organisation, said David T Johnson, assistant secretary of the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Johnson told reporters on Wednesday that under an agreement, an anti-narcotics chopper surveillance squad was set up in Quetta in 2002 by the Interior Ministry with US assistance, which includes 14 Huey II helicopters and three Cessna Caravan aircraft. To a question, he disclosed that the Pakistan and US governments had agreed to carry out the maintenance of these helicopters for which Washington had engaged DynCorp. Regarding Islamabad’s reservations over the presence of DynCorp officials, Johnson clarified that Washington was not considering changing them in the near future. Drug trafficking: He appreciated the efforts of Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies for taking effective measures against drug-trafficking and poppy cultivation, saying poppy still continues to be cultivated at a small scale in FATA due to the poor law and order situation there. 'There are some very small areas in Pakistan where poppy is still being cultivated, but these are relatively very small,' he added. Johnson said the US is working on a $150-million programme against drug trafficking with the cooperation of Pakistan’s anti-narcotics forces. He said over 93 percent of the poppy used around the world was being supplied from Afghanistan, adding that Pakistan’s share in the drug’s supply was very low."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
DynCorp to continue working in Pakistan, DAWN, 8 April 2010

Related posts:
Govt revamps anti-narcotics policy to curtail drug trade, 24 March 2010
Taliban exploit porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, 5 February 2010
Security companies on the rise, but at risk, 20 January 2010
Narco-jihad: Drug trafficking and security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 8 January 2010
Blackwater operating at CIA Pakistan base: Ex-official, 11 December 2009

Govt Revamps Anti-Narcotics Policy to Curtail Drug Trade

Narcotics and Pakistan [pdf], Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, March 2010

EXCERPT: "Production and trafficking of narcotics and its nexus with insurgency and terrorism targeting Pakistan is a critical issues for Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan is about to announce its new Anti-Narcotics Policy 2010. [...] This background paper, prepared by Ms. Soufia Siddiqui under the guidance of PILDAT, set the draft policy in a context, analyzing the need for a comprehensive policy on narcotics control in Pakistan. [...] As outlined in this paper, Pakistan has a long and troublesome history with  narcotics. While the cultivation and production of narcotics has been drastically cut in  Pakistan, the trafficking of drugs, rather than experiencing a reduction with the passage of time and efforts, is only gaining strength, a fact acknowledged within the Anti-narcotics Policy 2010 itself. This can largely be attributed to the country's porous Western border, low capacity of law-enforcement agencies, rapidly deteriorating socio-economic conditions and the ability of traffickers to evade the law by coming up with novel means and routes. Although Pakistan has had relative success in seizing narcotics (its heroin/morphine base seizures higher than other countries in the region,) much remains to be done..."

Read the full report [pdf].

Related articles:
Traffickers kill two police near Iran-Pakistan border, The News International, 19 March 2010
Heroin worth millions seized in Punjab, Sify News, 19 March 2010
PM approves second national anti-narcotics policy, Business Day, 25 February 2010

Related reports:
Illicit drug trends in Pakistan [pdf], UN Office on Drugs and Crime, April 2008

Related posts:
Taliban exploit porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, 5 February 2010
Pakistan faces a serious drug problem, 12 January 2010
Narco-jihad: Drug trafficking and security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 8 January 2010

Taliban Exploit Porous Afghanistan-Pakistan Border

Even Where Pakistani Law Exists, Taliban Find a Porous Border, The New York Times, 4 February 2010

EXCERPT: "The way the Taliban use Pakistan’s tribal areas to launch cross-border attacks inside Afghanistan is perhaps the most contentious issue between Pakistan and the United States. But the problem is hardly contained to Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas. Gaping holes in security checks along the border also remain at heavily trafficked crossings, like this one, in Baluchistan Province, where, American officials say, the Taliban’s leaders have taken refuge, out of reach of American and NATO forces. The Chaman crossing — marked on the Pakistani side by the three-story Friendship Gate — should presumably be among the most secure in the country: it is the sole crossing between Kandahar, the birthplace of the Afghan Taliban, and Baluchistan, which is, according to American officials, home to Taliban commanders who control many Afghan fighters. But Taliban fighters — anyone, really — can cross and smuggle weapons and drugs, underscoring the challenge to the American war effort in Afghanistan, for which the border presents a much firmer barrier, as Pakistan does not allow NATO or American military forces to cross."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Pakistan passport forgers fool the world, Earth Times, 27 January 2010
Chaman border crossing closed to NATO traffic [blog], The Long War Journal, 9 September 2009
Securing the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Asia Society, 10 December 2008
Pakistan, Afghanistan to adopt joint border control mechanism, Thaindian, 9 June 2008

Related reports:
Islamist militancy in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region and US policy [pdf], Congressional Research Service, 21 November 2008
Afghanistan, Pakistan: The battle-space of the border, STRATFOR, 14 October 2008
Pakistan's broken border, Council on Foreign Relations, 29 January 2007

Related posts:
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran promise increased regional cooperation, 19 January 2010
Iran, Pakistan review concerns over border instability, 14 January 2010
Narco-jihad: Drug trafficking and security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 8 January 2010
Counter-terrorism cooperation in South Asia: History and prospects, 7 January 2010
Govt resists US pressure, sets limits to the relationship, 21 December 2009

Pakistan Faces a Serious Drug Problem

Pakistan's Drug Problem, Al Jazeera, 12 January 2010

EXCERPT: "It estimated there are half a million people who inject heroin in Pakistan, and maybe five million drug users in total. . . Iftikhar earned enough as a tailor to finance his habit, and when money ran short, he sold possessions like his video camera. 'After the high had worn off, I would wake up and realise what I'd done, but it didn't stop me,' he said. Until one day on the streets, he was approached by an outreach worker from the country's biggest rehabilitation programme, Nai Zindagi, or New Life. And now in the warmth of the late winter sun, in the hills around Barakoh, he is preparing the ground for his vegetables. . . The farm programme where he works is a key plank in Nai Zindagi's operation. Financed by their own fund raising efforts, some state backing and the support of foreign governments like the Dutch, every day it helps around 22,000 addicts across Pakistan. It gives clean needles to addicts to stop the spread of HIV, it gives advice on health issues, treats wounds and abscesses, and gives addits the chance of getting clean. . . 'Terrorism is a different thing, this is an epidemic. If we do not respond to increased drug use in the country, and now people being infected with HIV, a lot of people are going to be angry about the fact that they have a disease they were not informed about. A lot of people are going to be disillusioned with life and you might have a group of people who you could recruit for terrorism,' he said. The authorities say Pakistan has the highest number of drug users in the world."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Pakistan madrassa mixes drugs rehab and fighter training, BBC News, 3 December 2009
Pakistan seizes 7 militants with explosives, drugs, The China Post, 24 August 2009
Punjab's drug haul shows it's a safe transit point, Thaindian, 24 February 2009
"Pakistan on drug war's frontline", Daily Times, 2 March 2006

Related reports:
International Narcotics Control and Strategy Report [entry on Pakistan on page 460], United States Department of State // Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, March 2009

Related posts:
Narco-jihad: Drug trafficking and security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 8 January 2010

Narco-Jihad: Drug Trafficking and Security in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Narco-Jihad: Drug Trafficking and Security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, National Bureau of Asian Research, December 2009

EXCERPT: "This essay explores the interface of Islamic militancy with opium poppy cultivation and the drug trade in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and draws implications for U.S. national security. It analyzes the evolution of the narcotics economy in the region since the late 1960s and the progressive involvement of various state and non-state actors in the economy since then, with particular attention to current Islamist jihadi networks in the region.  The essay also assesses the effectiveness of various counter-narcotics policies, especially since 2001, and evaluates the effectiveness of these policies not only with respect to the narrow goal of narcotics suppression but also with respect to counterinsurgency, counter-terrorism, state-building, and the stabilization of Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Read the full report.

Related articles:
Afghan opium fuels "global chaos", BBC News, 21 October 2009
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia to act against drugs, terror, DAWN, 27 June 2009
Official: Pakistan, Afghanistan unable to fight drug trafficking, Tehran Times, 20 May 2009
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran join in drug crackdown, Associated Press in ABC News, 11 March 2009

Related posts:
Pakistan Conflict Monitor Page: Drug Trade