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The new Golden Triangle
VIENNA: Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan are shaping up to be the new Golden Triangle. For decades that dubious epithet belonged to Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, which were notorious for producing opium and heroin. Now, Laos and Thailand are practically opium-free while opium cultivation is declining in Myanmar.
Today, Afghanistan alone produces about 90 percent of the world's opium. Almost all of it goes through neighboring Iran and Pakistan, along with processed heroin and morphine. The center of this new triangle is Baluchistan, a region which straddles the borders of the three countries.
I recently visited the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. At night, this barren terrain is often the scene of gun battles between Iranian security forces and convoys of heavily armed drug traffickers. These convoys can be huge, consisting of 30 or 40 vehicles, some mounted with antiaircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Iran has deployed almost 20,000 antinarcotic police and border guards along its 1,845-kilometer border with Afghanistan and Pakistan - the world's most active opium smuggling route. Twenty-eight mountain passes have been blocked by huge concrete structures. Hundreds of kilometers of trenches - four meters wide and four meters deep - have been dug to stop drug caravans eluding patrols. Towers and barbed wire stretch as far as the eye can see. It looks like a cross between medieval ramparts and the set of a science fiction film.
Iran's efforts are paying off, to some extent. It intercepted about 350 tonnes of opium last year, more than any other country in the world. Every tonne it stops is one tonne less that will reach the streets of Europe in the form of heroin. But the cost has been devastating. In the past 20 years, more than 3,500 Iranian police and border guards have been killed in this largely forgotten war, with another 15,000 injured.
Yet the drugs keep coming. In 2006, Afghanistan had a record crop of opium - more than 6,100 tonnes. This is already making its way through the Balkans and Central Asia into Europe. In major heroin markets, health officials should prepare for a rise in the number of deaths from drug overdoses as this year's bumper opium crop leads to higher-purity doses of heroin.
Most of the opium heading for Europe reaches its destination. Indeed, in 2005 only a quarter of all the world's opium was seized. This compares poorly with the global seizure rate for cocaine, about half of which is intercepted every year.
Why the discrepancy? The biggest difference is that Colombia, the world's main cocaine producer, intercepts a sizable chunk of its own cocaine. It accounts for a third of all global seizures and blows up hundreds of coke labs. Afghanistan, wracked by insurgency, lawlessness and corruption, manages to seize only 3 percent of its own opium. The power of the drug lords faces little opposition.
Afghanistan's neighbors - Iran in particular - bear the brunt of its inability to stamp out the opium trade. Iran has one of the highest rates of opium use in the world. It is making impressive efforts to improve drug prevention and treatment, particularly in prisons, but the scale of the problem is enormous.
Iran's counternarcotic efforts deserve understanding and support. Iran and the West have their differences, but on this issue they are on the same side. They need to learn to cooperate more closely.
The drug traffickers operate freely across borders. The world's security forces must learn to do the same. All countries of the region should share intelligence on drug trafficking and work with Western drug liaison officers.
Better information sharing on drug entry routes (from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan) as well as exit routes (Azerbaijan, the Gulf states and Turkey) would not only build confidence, it could improve security. This is the logic behind successful efforts by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to create intelligence-sharing centers in Central Asia and the Gulf.
Afghanistan and its two key neighbors need to work more closely on this huge common problem. The rest of the world should help them. We all have a stake in containing the opium menace.
Today, Afghanistan alone produces about 90 percent of the world's opium. Almost all of it goes through neighboring Iran and Pakistan, along with processed heroin and morphine. The center of this new triangle is Baluchistan, a region which straddles the borders of the three countries.
I recently visited the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. At night, this barren terrain is often the scene of gun battles between Iranian security forces and convoys of heavily armed drug traffickers. These convoys can be huge, consisting of 30 or 40 vehicles, some mounted with antiaircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Iran has deployed almost 20,000 antinarcotic police and border guards along its 1,845-kilometer border with Afghanistan and Pakistan - the world's most active opium smuggling route. Twenty-eight mountain passes have been blocked by huge concrete structures. Hundreds of kilometers of trenches - four meters wide and four meters deep - have been dug to stop drug caravans eluding patrols. Towers and barbed wire stretch as far as the eye can see. It looks like a cross between medieval ramparts and the set of a science fiction film.
Iran's efforts are paying off, to some extent. It intercepted about 350 tonnes of opium last year, more than any other country in the world. Every tonne it stops is one tonne less that will reach the streets of Europe in the form of heroin. But the cost has been devastating. In the past 20 years, more than 3,500 Iranian police and border guards have been killed in this largely forgotten war, with another 15,000 injured.
Yet the drugs keep coming. In 2006, Afghanistan had a record crop of opium - more than 6,100 tonnes. This is already making its way through the Balkans and Central Asia into Europe. In major heroin markets, health officials should prepare for a rise in the number of deaths from drug overdoses as this year's bumper opium crop leads to higher-purity doses of heroin.
Most of the opium heading for Europe reaches its destination. Indeed, in 2005 only a quarter of all the world's opium was seized. This compares poorly with the global seizure rate for cocaine, about half of which is intercepted every year.
Why the discrepancy? The biggest difference is that Colombia, the world's main cocaine producer, intercepts a sizable chunk of its own cocaine. It accounts for a third of all global seizures and blows up hundreds of coke labs. Afghanistan, wracked by insurgency, lawlessness and corruption, manages to seize only 3 percent of its own opium. The power of the drug lords faces little opposition.
Afghanistan's neighbors - Iran in particular - bear the brunt of its inability to stamp out the opium trade. Iran has one of the highest rates of opium use in the world. It is making impressive efforts to improve drug prevention and treatment, particularly in prisons, but the scale of the problem is enormous.
Iran's counternarcotic efforts deserve understanding and support. Iran and the West have their differences, but on this issue they are on the same side. They need to learn to cooperate more closely.
The drug traffickers operate freely across borders. The world's security forces must learn to do the same. All countries of the region should share intelligence on drug trafficking and work with Western drug liaison officers.
Better information sharing on drug entry routes (from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan) as well as exit routes (Azerbaijan, the Gulf states and Turkey) would not only build confidence, it could improve security. This is the logic behind successful efforts by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to create intelligence-sharing centers in Central Asia and the Gulf.
Afghanistan and its two key neighbors need to work more closely on this huge common problem. The rest of the world should help them. We all have a stake in containing the opium menace.
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