The Afghan Connection

Abstract

This chapter explores how Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs transformed efforts by the Afghan government to stop the illicit drug trade. Greater pressure from the US government to enforce local drug laws in drug producing countries led to disruptions in the global supply of heroin, but not in Afghanistan. Opium and heroin continued to be smuggled into Iran, and Afghanistan seemed incapable of stopping the flow. With the assistance of anti-drug operatives from the DEA and the United Nations, the Afghan government established anti-smuggling units to combat the growing drug trade. This chapter demonstrates that the increased enforcement efforts did little to curb the flow of drugs, primarily because counter-narcotics operations were continually hampered by corrupt police, local political realities, and ethnic infighting.