Kabul (Afviews): Afghan Drug trafficking dilemma to the entire world via Central Asia and Afghan neighboring countries is becoming a very vulnerable issue as a non-traditional security threat.

According to a research paper, drug threats to Central Asia have changed in form and structure and most visibly geographically, from being primarily a dilemma from Golden Crescent, with imports from Afghanistan to more multifaceted threat.

The origin of the world’s largest exporter of opium and heroin are today Eurasia, more specifically, Afghanistan, while other products are domestic in origin

Though a huge amount of poppy has been cultivated in Afghanistan, but the main question remain unanswered is that from where and how drug smuggled out of this war-torn country, where troops from more than 40 nations are stationed? 

The Afghan Counter-Narcotics Ministry has said that major part of Afghan narcotics smuggled abroad via Pakistan, Iran and some other Central Asian Countries.

Zarar Ahmad Moqbel, minister of counter-narcotics, told at a conference that the vast presence of the Taliban, terrorists groups and the drugs mafia in the triangle of Teftan-Baramcha-Gerdi Jangal areas are preparing the ground for transferring hundreds tonnes of narcotics abroad annually.

He voiced concern about increasing poppy cultivation in the south of Afghanistan and said 240 tonnes of narcotics are transferred to Iran and Pakistan via three border points.

Meanwhile, in the same press conference, Coordinator of US Law-Enforcement Afghanistan, Ambassador Stephen McFarland, said that poppy cultivation had increased in Afghanistan as a result of the increasing price of opium in the world and talked about America's cooperation with Afghanistan to destroy poppy cultivated land in the country.

“It certainly continues to be a major challenge for Afghanistan and the region. The phenomenon of narcotics has grown in Afghanistan as a result of years of war and the high demand for narcotics in the world. These could be the main factors behind the phenomenon, and we are committed to continuing to help Afghanistan to deal with it,” Coordinator of US Law-Enforcement Afghanistan said.

But many Afghans often ask that why the International collation was failed to address drug trafficking and poppy cultivation properly in Afghanistan?

Some years back, Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign-policy studies at the Cato Institute in an article has wrote “The opium trade is such a huge part of Afghanistan’s economy, that efforts to eradicate it would alienate millions of Afghans and play into the hands of the terrorists.”
 
He urged on the Obama administration to adopt a pragmatic policy in Afghanistan and look the other way regarding the drug-trafficking activities of friendly warlords. It was his view that the US military must not become the enemy of Afghan farmers whose livelihood depends on opium-poppy cultivation.

But still Afghan farmers who once again turned into poppy cultivation says that in the past years, Afghan government and the International community did not fulfill their commitment for helping them in improvement of life conditions.

Now who will take advantage of this situation, if Taliban and illegal armed groups, than what will be the result after 2014?