Central Asian countries are ill-equipped to fight the war on drugs

The opium and heroin trade are these farmers The opium and heroin trade are these farmers livelihood livelihood

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

shows the devastating consequences the opium and

heroin trade have on countries along the Balkan and Eurasian

drug routes:

•Europe•China•India•Russian Federation

Opium and Heroin: North and SouthOpium and Heroin: North and South

The opium trade is capable of increasing the IMU’s capabilities while sustaining the organization and prolonging

its existence, contributes to the region’s continuing instability, and is able to manifest itself in Tajikistan.

The Taliban alone takes in approximately $250 million a year for protection services, so it is clear IMU security services bring the organization sizeable revenue.38

Prior to 2001, in addition to opium profits, the IMU was able to rely on the Taliban to provide the organization with a safe-haven and Al-Qaeda to provide arms, ammunition, capital, and admission to training facilities.

These trade routes developed between the empires of Persia and Syria on the Mediterranean coast and the Indian kingdoms of the East.

By the late Middle Ages the routes extended from Italy in the West to China in

the East and to Scandinavia in the North

The ancient Silk Road helped to integrated the old Chinese, Indian, Persian, Arabian, ancient Greek and Roman cultures and promoted the exchange of the Western and Oriental civilizations

The Afghan government incorporated this strategy into its own 2006 National Drug Control Strategy

Asia for Educators, 2015, The Opium War and Foreign Encroachment

Retrieved from http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_opium.htm

Bitter Harvest: The War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror

Retrieved from http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=36164&loid=39394#

Bitter Harvest: The War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror, March 2009, Drug Control in Central Asia

Retrieved from http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=36164&loid=39394

Bitter Harvest: The War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror

Retrieved from http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=36164&loid=39394#

China.org, 2015, Historic Silk Road

Retrieved from http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/139504.htm

Crisis Group, 2015, Central Asia: Drugs and Conflict

Retrieved from http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/central-asia/Central%20Asia%20Drugs%20and%20Conflict.pdf Global Research, 2015, Afghanistan, Garden of Empire: America’s Multibillion Dollar Opium Harvest

Retrieved from http://www.globalresearch.ca/afghanistan-garden-of-empire-americas-multibillion-dollar-opium-harvest/5324196

National Public Radio, 2015, Afghan Farmers: Opium Is the Only Way to Make a Living

Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/11/14/245040114/afghan-farmers-opium-is-the-only-way-to-make-a-living

NBC News, 2015, Without Opium, Afghan Village Economy Spirals

Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32258924/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/t/without-opium-afghan-village-economy-spirals/#.VV9n12CRafQ

Public Broadcasting Agency, 2015, Bitter Harvest, Central Asia’s Opium Terrorists

Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/bitter-harvest/central-asias-opium-terrorists/?p=3165

Oriental Review, 2015, The Opium Problem in Afghanistan and Russia at the End of the 20 th Century

Retrieved from http://orientalreview.org/2010/06/28/the-opium-problem-in-afghanistan-and-russia-at-the-end-of-the-20th-century/

Untitled Image of poppy farmers, n.d. poppy field and farmers photograph) Retrieved from http://webpublicapress.net/opium-poppy-of-afghanistans-tainted-legacy/

Untitled Image of opium farmer, 2015, poppy field harvest

Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/11/14/245040114/afghan-farmers-opium-is-the-only-way-to-make-a-living

UNODC, 2015, UNODC Reveals Devastating Impact of Afghan Opium

Retrieved from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2009/October/unodc-reveals-devastating-impact-of-afghan-opium.html

Untitled Image of map, n.d. image of old silk road http://www.deamuseum.org/ccp/opium/history.html

US Army Combined Arms Center, 2015, Trafficking Terror Through Tajikistan

Retrieved from http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/MilitaryReview/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20130831_art005.pdf