Responding to Afghanistan's Opium Economy Challenge : Lessons and Policy Implications from a Development Perspective

Byrd, William A.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO ASSETS;    ACCESS TO MARKETS;    ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES;    ADVERSE IMPACT;    ADVERSE IMPACTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4545
RP-ID  :  WPS4545

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Opium, Afghanistan's leadingeconomic activity, lies at the heart of the challenges thecountry faces in state building, governance, security, anddevelopment.With their narrow law enforcement focus andlimited recognition of development, security, and politicalimplications, current global counter-narcotics policesimpose a heavy burden on Afghanistan. This paper firstprovides a summary overview of Afghanistan's opiumeconomy and the factors determining rural households'decisions on cultivating opium poppy. It then discusses thedynamic evolution of the Afghan drug industry in recentyears, in particular its consolidation around fewer,powerful, politically-connected actors and the associatedcompromising of parts of some government agencies by drugindustry interests. The paper reviews the experience withdifferent counter-narcotics interventions, analyzes someproposals not yet tried in Afghanistan, and draws lessonsand policy implications.Unfortunately there are no"silver bullets"-easy, quick, or one-dimensionalsolutions, and a longer-term horizon along with sustainedcommitment and resources will be required in order to phaseout the opium economy over time. The paper concludes byputting forward some broad principles and approaches of a"smart strategy" against drugs in Afghanistan.