St Petersburg International Conference of Afghan Studies

St Petersburg International Conference of Afghan Studies 61 Panel Three. The General and the Specific in the Regions... their own networks of protection and patronage at the centre of the government. Consequently, they are immune to attempts at law enforcement. Smuggling narcotics out ofAfghanistan and other illegal goods (mainly weapons) into Afghanistan has been a profitable activity and a major source of wealth in Northern and Eastern Afghanistan since at least the 1990’s. After the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, the major warlords-cum-strongmen have competed over control of the smuggling routes. At times agreements have been reached on how to share access, at other times there have been attempts to push competitors out. There has been a lot of overlap between strongmen, businessmen, and smugglers. For instance, in the case of Northern Afghanistan, some of the leading businessmen of Mazar-i Sharif smuggle narcotics into Uzbekistan themselves, or through members of their families. The powerful networks involved in the drug industry undermine the feeble state- building project that has consumed billions of foreign aid since 2001. In formal policies and official statements and documents the central Government has committed itself to delivering democratic and accountable governance across the land. In reality there is a power asymmetry between the feeble central government institutions and the real power-brokers in the provinces, who have emboldened themselves through power and wealth accumulated by entanglements in the illicit narcotics industry. As a result, Afghanistan is emerging as a narco-state with no prospect of getting out of the immense mess it is embroiled in. However, the emerging narco-state in Afghanistan is not only about Afghanistan; there is a risk that the Afghan narcotics industry could end up financing international terrorism. The paper is based on the author’s work in and aroundAfghanistan over a period of over a decade.