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02-11-2010, 12:45 PM
Iran's 30-Year War on Drugs
MATTHEW C. DUPEE | 10 FEB 2010
WORLD POLITICS REVIEW
Over the past 30 years, the poisonous effects of Afghanistan's narcotics industry have steadily transformed Iran's law enforcement and border security institutions, forcing drastic changes in the way Iran deals with what has become a burgeoning transnational narco-insurgency on its southeastern frontier with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Iran's police chief, Brig. Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moqaddam, announced last October that Iranian authorities are now using remote security surveillance and control systems from Tehran to help monitor and interdict the massive flow of narcotics streaming over the border from Afghanistan. But despite the country's draconian anti-narcotics laws and aggressive interdiction efforts, Iran remains the primary transit route for Afghan drug smugglers. Approximately 50 percent of Afghanistan's opium output passes through Iran en route to destinations such as Turkey, where morphine base and brown heroin are refined further for intravenous drug-users in Europe.
Last year, Iranian counternarcotics efforts led to 85 percent of the world's total opium seizures, with authorities confiscating an astonishing 1,000 tons of opium entering through the porous 560-mile border with Afghanistan. Despite such measures, Iran's war on drugs is far from successful.
The seizures represent just a fraction of what narcotics smugglers succeed in trafficking over the border. Meanwhile, Iran's drug war is wearing Tehran down both financially and socially. Over the past two years, Iran has spent more than $600 million on counternarcotics operations, including the construction of approximately 600 miles of trench systems, canals, cement barriers, and barbed-wire fences designed to thwart vehicular trafficking by smugglers. That sum is in addition to the cost of the digital surveillance capabilities described by Moqaddam.
The flow of Afghan drugs through Iran has also created serious social, security, and economic problems for a country increasingly at odds with the international community over concerns about its covert nuclear weapons program. Moqaddam told Mehr News Agency last November that according to official figures, 1.2 million Iranians are addicted to drugs. He added that unofficial figures suggest a much larger population of 6 million drug-users around the country. Meanwhile, more than 65 percent of Iran's population is younger than 25 years old, creating an enormous potential for high-risk behavior such as drug use. Up until five years ago, most Iranian addicts consumed opium. Now, the majority of addicts use heroin, known locally as "crack" or by its Afghan moniker, "crystal."
Iranian officials have repeatedly asked NATO countries operating in Afghanistan, particularly Britain, to help do more to curb the booming narcotics trade in southern Afghanistan. More than 98 percent of Afghan opium is now produced in five southern districts, including Helmand province, where most of Britain's troops are based. The United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars pursuing counternarcotics programs in Afghanistan. And beginning in 2009, NATO and U.S. officials revamped their anti-poppy efforts to focus more on interdiction and targeting "nexus leaders" -- i.e., criminals and drug traffickers directly linked to the insurgency. But poppy production has steadily increased since 2002, with Afghanistan now producing 90 percent of the world's illicit opium.
Iran has also turned to the U.N. for assistance, asking for $500 million in aid in 2006 to help combat the flow of drugs pouring over the Iran-Afghan border area. The U.N. has refused to confirm or deny whether it provided money for that particular request, although the executive director of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime has praised Iran for "unilaterally" tackling the drug problem on its borders. But last summer, Western nations warned that they might cut off any new funding for Iran's anti-drug efforts unless the Islamic Republic halts its uranium enrichment program, which Washington and its allies worry could be used to develop nuclear weapons. This would create significant economic obstacles to Iran's ability to pursue its counternarcotics operations. Compared to the $600 million appropriated over the past two years, only $115 million was appropriated this year for similar border security measures, already short of the $200 million requested by the Interior Ministry. Senior Iranian officials cryptically warned that the Iranian regime would need to spend nearly $3 billion over the next few years to properly secure the border area with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In addition to narcotics-induced economic pressure, Iran's struggle to combat the drug war within its borders has also caused serious bloodshed among Iranian security personnel. Since 1979, Iran has lost more than 3,700 of it security forces in its war against drugs. Often, narco-traffickers are better-armed and equipped than the young Iranian border police, and violent clashes break out between them on a frequent basis. Eleven Iranian security officers were killed in a ferocious ambush by drug traffickers entering from Afghanistan on Jan. 3.
Whether the war on drugs can be viewed as "a non-political area of mutual interest" between Iran and the West remains uncertain. For now, though, Iran is slowly losing that war on its borders and on its territory. It is a cumulative failure that will affect regional stability and scar generations of youth -- in Iran, the immediate neighborhood and beyond. Western governments would do well to consider the costs of linking the nuclear and narcotics issues, because when narcotics reach Europe, it is the people, not the governments that suffer.
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=5102
MATTHEW C. DUPEE | 10 FEB 2010
WORLD POLITICS REVIEW
Over the past 30 years, the poisonous effects of Afghanistan's narcotics industry have steadily transformed Iran's law enforcement and border security institutions, forcing drastic changes in the way Iran deals with what has become a burgeoning transnational narco-insurgency on its southeastern frontier with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Iran's police chief, Brig. Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moqaddam, announced last October that Iranian authorities are now using remote security surveillance and control systems from Tehran to help monitor and interdict the massive flow of narcotics streaming over the border from Afghanistan. But despite the country's draconian anti-narcotics laws and aggressive interdiction efforts, Iran remains the primary transit route for Afghan drug smugglers. Approximately 50 percent of Afghanistan's opium output passes through Iran en route to destinations such as Turkey, where morphine base and brown heroin are refined further for intravenous drug-users in Europe.
Last year, Iranian counternarcotics efforts led to 85 percent of the world's total opium seizures, with authorities confiscating an astonishing 1,000 tons of opium entering through the porous 560-mile border with Afghanistan. Despite such measures, Iran's war on drugs is far from successful.
The seizures represent just a fraction of what narcotics smugglers succeed in trafficking over the border. Meanwhile, Iran's drug war is wearing Tehran down both financially and socially. Over the past two years, Iran has spent more than $600 million on counternarcotics operations, including the construction of approximately 600 miles of trench systems, canals, cement barriers, and barbed-wire fences designed to thwart vehicular trafficking by smugglers. That sum is in addition to the cost of the digital surveillance capabilities described by Moqaddam.
The flow of Afghan drugs through Iran has also created serious social, security, and economic problems for a country increasingly at odds with the international community over concerns about its covert nuclear weapons program. Moqaddam told Mehr News Agency last November that according to official figures, 1.2 million Iranians are addicted to drugs. He added that unofficial figures suggest a much larger population of 6 million drug-users around the country. Meanwhile, more than 65 percent of Iran's population is younger than 25 years old, creating an enormous potential for high-risk behavior such as drug use. Up until five years ago, most Iranian addicts consumed opium. Now, the majority of addicts use heroin, known locally as "crack" or by its Afghan moniker, "crystal."
Iranian officials have repeatedly asked NATO countries operating in Afghanistan, particularly Britain, to help do more to curb the booming narcotics trade in southern Afghanistan. More than 98 percent of Afghan opium is now produced in five southern districts, including Helmand province, where most of Britain's troops are based. The United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars pursuing counternarcotics programs in Afghanistan. And beginning in 2009, NATO and U.S. officials revamped their anti-poppy efforts to focus more on interdiction and targeting "nexus leaders" -- i.e., criminals and drug traffickers directly linked to the insurgency. But poppy production has steadily increased since 2002, with Afghanistan now producing 90 percent of the world's illicit opium.
Iran has also turned to the U.N. for assistance, asking for $500 million in aid in 2006 to help combat the flow of drugs pouring over the Iran-Afghan border area. The U.N. has refused to confirm or deny whether it provided money for that particular request, although the executive director of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime has praised Iran for "unilaterally" tackling the drug problem on its borders. But last summer, Western nations warned that they might cut off any new funding for Iran's anti-drug efforts unless the Islamic Republic halts its uranium enrichment program, which Washington and its allies worry could be used to develop nuclear weapons. This would create significant economic obstacles to Iran's ability to pursue its counternarcotics operations. Compared to the $600 million appropriated over the past two years, only $115 million was appropriated this year for similar border security measures, already short of the $200 million requested by the Interior Ministry. Senior Iranian officials cryptically warned that the Iranian regime would need to spend nearly $3 billion over the next few years to properly secure the border area with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In addition to narcotics-induced economic pressure, Iran's struggle to combat the drug war within its borders has also caused serious bloodshed among Iranian security personnel. Since 1979, Iran has lost more than 3,700 of it security forces in its war against drugs. Often, narco-traffickers are better-armed and equipped than the young Iranian border police, and violent clashes break out between them on a frequent basis. Eleven Iranian security officers were killed in a ferocious ambush by drug traffickers entering from Afghanistan on Jan. 3.
Whether the war on drugs can be viewed as "a non-political area of mutual interest" between Iran and the West remains uncertain. For now, though, Iran is slowly losing that war on its borders and on its territory. It is a cumulative failure that will affect regional stability and scar generations of youth -- in Iran, the immediate neighborhood and beyond. Western governments would do well to consider the costs of linking the nuclear and narcotics issues, because when narcotics reach Europe, it is the people, not the governments that suffer.
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=5102