Behind the rise of Afghanistan's booming meth industry

Drugs are deeply embedded in Afghanistan’s economy, and under the Taliban, trade is flourishing.

While the country has long been linked with heroin, in recent years it has also emerged as a significant producer of methamphetamine - a highly addictive drug.

Bakwa in the southwest of the country has become a hub for manufacturing facilities.

Located in the Farah province, which shares a 290-kilometre border with Iran, the Abdul Wadood Bazar is an open-air drug market where producers sell their products.

"It's a wholesale market, hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine, and ephedra - known here as ‘Oman’ – are for sale," Fazil Rahman, 39, a local drug producer in Bakwa told The New Arab.

"The meth industry has grown dramatically since 2015 after the discovery that one of its key ingredients, ephedrine, can be extracted from a wild plant called ephedra, or 'Oman'"

Those involved in the trade say up to 3,000 kg of methamphetamine are produced daily by more than 500 factories in Bakwa.

The meth industry has grown dramatically since around 2015 after the discovery that one of its key ingredients, ephedrine, can be extracted from the wild plant called ephedra, or ‘Oman’. It has been grown in the country’s central highlands for centuries.

"It's a magical plant; all you need is to collect, dry, and sell it," a local producer told TNA, under the condition of anonymity.

The Iran connection

The drug market in neighbouring Iran has had a significant impact on the production of methamphetamine in Afghanistan.

The first manufacturing of the drug was reported in 2007 and by 2012 Iran had become the fourth-largest importer of pseudoephedrine, one of the main chemicals used in producing crystal meth.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says that 111 illicit methamphetamine manufacturing facilities were disassembled in Iran in 2019.

Although drug facilities are still operational, there has been a steady decline in the reported number of destroyed production labs since 2013.

But after the discovery of ‘Oman’ in producing meth, drug cartels based in Iran began training Afghans on how to spot the plant in the wild and produce cheap but potent methamphetamine inside Afghanistan.

"When I was in Iran after years of working in construction, I was introduced to one of the meth factories through Iranian friends. From there I learned how to cook meth," Fazil Rahman told TNA.

Poverty and survival

According to Iranian law enforcement, many of the labourers working in Iran’s meth labs were Afghan nationals, which has contributed to the spread of its production in Afghanistan.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that difficulties for Afghan nationals in obtaining work permits and visas often force them towards employment in informal and illegal activities.

Fazil said that drug mafias take advantage of this situation to avoid centralised production and distribute parts of the process to local households.

"The only thing that changed after the ban is the price, which is shocking and provides strength to the mafias who are well connected with the Taliban"

In Afghanistan, a country where 97 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, a family in Bakwa can make nearly $380 a month from helping in the production process or storing the chemical compounds necessary for production.

"Now, most households are busy producing methamphetamine since the economy collapsed. Everyone is busy finding money to feed their households," Fazil says

Money from drug production may help some families cope with the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, but the methamphetamine wave ultimately means more hardship for the Afghans down the road.

According to the latest UN data, the country already has some of the highest rates of opiate addiction in the world.

Taliban rule

On 3 April 2022, the Taliban supreme leader stated, "As per the decree of the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, all Afghans are informed that from now on, the cultivation of poppy has been strictly prohibited across the country".

Despite the announcement, the harvesting, production, and trafficking of drugs have escalated. Factories in Bakwa alone produce thousands of kilos of methamphetamine and heroin daily.

"The only thing that changed after the ban is the price, which is shocking and provides strength to the mafias who are well connected with the Taliban," Fazil said.

Sellers at the Bakwa have long been free to pursue their trade. The previous government essentially turned a blind eye, one wholesaler said, and the Taliban have taken the same approach since they took power.

Though Taliban fighters sometimes inspect the markets, they have not tried to shut them down.

"For the past years, the Taliban always controlled and did the security for Abdul Wadood Bazar, collecting tax from traders and traffickers," one wholesaler said.

Indeed, drug cultivation and trafficking have been a crucial source of income for the Taliban over the decades, earning the group tens to hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the Afghan poppy economy.

In 2020, it was thought to generate around $416 million, which fuelled the conflict in the country.

Fluctuating between ignoring the opium crop and demanding its total eradication, the US dithered for two decades while heroin boomed. It helped create a drug economy that corrupted and crippled the government and aided the Taliban.

Borders and bribes

Asmatullah, 41, from Bakwa, has been involved in the methamphetamine and heroin trade since 2015. He makes thousands of dollars each year by facilitating the production and trafficking of these highly addictive drugs.

"It's hazardous, but if you have a network in Afghanistan and Iran, you can easily trade," Asmatullah told The New Arab.

Drug traffickers are using Iran's territory as the shortest major land route for the transit of narcotics from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Europe.

Trafficking has intensified and extended its geographical reach in the last few years. The joint trafficking of methamphetamine and heroin has the potential to push Afghan drugs across continents.

"The roads and rules never changed for Iranian smugglers who have strong relationships with the Iranian border police and Taliban," Asmatullah said.

"Throughout the decades of conflict in Afghanistan, the pivotal players and cartels involved in narcotics smuggling, trafficking routes, and laundering drug money have remained remarkably unchanged"

Many opium traders are now moving methamphetamine using existing infrastructure, routes, and bribery schemes to reach neighbouring Iran.

Asmatullah said they use local drivers who haul goods in the back of trucks to traffic the drugs across the border into Iran, much as they have been doing with heroin and opium over the decades.

"The drug mafia in Iran is so powerful, fully armed with RPG and four-wheel armoured cars, and they have the money to pay border police to allow them to trade easily," Asmatullah said.

Throughout the decades of conflict in Afghanistan, the pivotal players and cartels involved in narcotics smuggling, trafficking routes, and laundering drug money have remained remarkably unchanged.

So too has the willingness of both Iranian and Afghan authorities, including the Taliban, to take action against the drugs industry, which continues to thrive.

Mujtaba Haris is an Afghan researcher, journalist, and youth advocate. He spent 15 years working in major cities — Kabul, Herat, and Mazar-e Sharif — and rural areas — Logar province. He is an MBA graduate from Cumbria University, UK. He is a Global Peace award winner. 

Follow him on Twitter: @mujtaba_haris