ISLAMABAD -- The United Nations' office on drugs and crime has warned recently that Afghanistan risks becoming a narco-state, dependent largely on the flow of illegal drugs. The production and shipment of narcotics in an otherwise shattered and bankrupt economy not only add to the aggravation within this war-torn Central Asian state but also threaten global interests.
More than two years after the United States, in response to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., attacked Afghanistan and removed the Taliban rulers, the situation is hardly reassuring. U.N. officials estimate the value of Afghanistan's opium produce last year at more than $2 billion -- an overwhelming sum for an impoverished country. This year may see a further lift in output, thanks to more rainfall across the southwestern region.
The menacing effects of Afghanistan's drug trade involve not only militant group leaders and others who receive payoffs but also the lives of a significant portion of Afghan society caught up in the trade's vicious circle.