The Consequences of Coercion in Badakhshan

This chapter examines what led to the 1958 ban of opium in Badakhshan. After 1945, Afghanistan began a concerted effort to be ratified by the international drug control regime as a legal producer of opium for the global pharmaceutical trade. Although there was some support for Afghanistan, Mohammad Daud Khan abruptly announced a ban and eradication of all opium in Badakhshan province in 1958. This chapter examines the internal and external forces that shaped the implementation of the ban, and the consequences of the ban. Internally, Daud chose to eradicate crops in Badakhsan, not in three other opium producing provinces, mainly because it was inhabited by Tajiks, an ethnic minority which could not threaten the stability of the Afghan government. Daud also recognized that the international community was well aware opium’s importance to the Badakhshan economy, and would increase economic development aid and assistance to the Afghan government.