All Goods are Dangerous Goods

Abstract

This chapter discusses the impact of the Helmand Valley Development Project, the largest American investment project in Afghanistan prior to the Afghan-Soviet War, and the impact on the development of the illicit opium trade. During the 1950s and 1960s, American development projects (through USAID) aimed to transform the Helmand Valley into a rich agricultural zone by building dams, and improving irrigation and farming techniques, to prepare farmers to grow crops for regional and global markets. By the 1970s, shifts in the global supply of illicit opium led drug traffickers to Afghanistan in search of new supply, and farmers in Helmand and surrounding areas began to shift to opium cultivation. In the course of the analysis, the chapter explores the relationship between globalization and development projects, and why the Helmand Valley project played a critical role in the growth of illicit opium production in Afghanistan.