Poppy Plants, Foreign Policy All Connected

Opium and heroin will be back baby -- in a big way. And the world's addiction to drugs will be used to fund Taliban efforts against U.S. military strikes.

That crazy Nancy Reagan. She thought she could get rid of this timeless drug addiction just by saying no!

Silly rabbit, hits are for kids! The United States is now at the forefront of two ambiguous wars - "The War on Drugs" and "The War on Terrorism." The two have come full circle and are one and the same. More on that later, but first a history lesson.

Once upon a time, Afghanistan was the chief poppy producer in the world, holding around 75 percent of the international market, according to the United Nations International Drug Control Program. Poppy can be made into opium and heroin.

How did Afghanistan get to be the top producer, you might ask? Geographical advantages and United States foreign aid, among other reasons.

South Asia has been notorious for poppy plant and hashish production and heavy drug trafficking. But now onto the more the interesting reason why Afghanistan had complete control over the world's poppy markets.

In the 1950s, the U.S. Agency for International Development built the HAVA irrigation system in the southeastern province of Helmand, Afghanistan. USAID funds projects with U.S. foreign policy goals in mind.

Now, Helmand is apparently responsible for around 90 percent of the country's opium trade (valued at hundreds of millions of dollars). According to a recent U.S. State Department report, "This irrigated area has been modern Afghanistan's breadbasket." But wait -- there's more.

During the 1980 war between the Afghan mujahideen and the Soviet Union, the CIA and the CIA-trained Pakistan security force, the ISI, also encouraged the Afghanistan drug business, according to Janes Information Group. The main objective -- to obtain cash for weapons necessary to defeat the Soviet Union.

The mujahideen even went so far as to offer what Indigo Thomas of Slate Magazine called "weapons-grade heroin" to Soviet soldiers in the hopes of transforming the occupying Red Army into drug addicts.

Does this remind anyone of the Opium Wars between the British empire and China? Over the next 15 years, the government of Afghanistan and later the Taliban regime increased production immensely. But, after mounting pressure from the United States, United Nations and other Western influences, the Taliban agreed to cut down production in 1997 (even calling it at one point anti-Islam) in exchange for aid through the U.N. Development Program.

Production declined ever so slightly, but the decline was probably more a result of the prolonged drought than anything else. However, in July of this year, the Taliban actually banned poppy production and the United Nations confirmed the Taliban's decree.

OK. I think we're up to speed now.

The Taliban, nine days before the attacks on September 11th, lifted its two-month ban on poppy production - in an effort to get poppy planted for optimum growing season.

No one can be absolutely sure that the Taliban knew the attacks were coming, but an extra couple hundred million in drug money to buy weapons to thwart a U.S. attack would be timely. Now, the United States is forced into continuing its "war" against drugs as an integral part of its war on terrorism. Unfortunately, the United States will probably have similar results (which are minimal) with its war on terrorism as it has had with its war on drugs. Combatting an ideology (terrorism and anti-U.S. sentiment) is increasingly difficult when everything the United States does to secure itself and its global position enrages those at odds with it. That is old news though. What's fresh?

The fact that come springtime (barring any effective action by the U.S.-led coalition) opium and heroin markets will be flooded. Prices will plummet, and everyone will feel the effects - I hope. In the meantime, I'm getting ready for the spring harvest and frantically trying to find my veins.

I've bought a copy of "Trainspotting" and began re-reading my William Burroughs and listening to as much Charlie Parker as I can with anxious exuberance. And the entire time, I continually thank the U.S. government for being responsible for the worst foreign policy gaffes ever.

It might be a long time until all the remnants of Cold War foreign policy have played themselves out completely.

Ideally, nothing like the tragic events of Sept. 11 will reoccur, but the United States has to be a little more careful what totalitarian regimes it supports.

Josh Baylin can be reached at jbaylin@email.unc.edu.