Illegal Drugs of Myanmar and Afghanistan: Extent, Cartels, Operation, Issues, Impacts
In the midst of all the turmoil that has occurred in Myanmar and Afghanistan due to unstable governments, an economic implication that has brought to the front is the opium war. With the insurgent groups holding their head high in causing political trouble, they have maintained themselves through the illegal opium trade. These countries contribute to the highest value of illegal opium trade in the world.
Emergence of Drug Cartels
The drug cartels created by the insurgents is not new. It started in the 1960s with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC) beginning the drug cartels during their revolutionary movements in defending the Colombian peasants and the labour rights. It later emerged as the biggest drug cartel in South America. In 2000 the Taliban and the related outfits started the drug cartel in Afghanistan. It is named as the Golden Crescent with the US labeled terrorist organizations like Haqqani Network and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan also joining the cartel. Myanmar also followed suit and in this case the minority led nationalist and secessionist resistance movements started it. Here it is since then known as the Golden Triangle, biggest cartel of Southeast Asia.
Impacts of Drug Cartel
One of the biggest consequences of a drug cartel formed is that it opens a path for illegal profits from the black markets. As a result, it has a direct impact on the lawlessness that prevails in the countries. This profit motivates the players to keep the instability and conflict going on so that they can use it as a shield to carry on this side business. One such example is the FARC of Colombia. Last year they made a final peace treaty with the government. But some commanders were still refusing disarm and demobilize as that would indicate an end of this illegal trade also and a complete stoppage of earnings.
Drug trade can be so beneficial that it can push the insurgent groups away from their main ideologies just for profit. Along with violent activities the warlords have built up their opium-fueled empire. But the irony is that the leaders keep becoming rich out of it but the lower rank fighters and soldiers still live in poverty. They keep rejecting peace building efforts to keep up this empire. It also pushes them to strive for more power and territory, which is a paradigm shift from their ideologies (usually relates to problems of the downtrodden of the society).
Other than these, the trade has an obvious impact on financing the fight. Along with buying weapons they also use this money to bribe officials to drop cases against them. One great example of how illegal drug trade becomes the ultimate goal is demonstrated by the Taliban. It had once declared opium as haram in order to promote the Islamic ideologies. But later it was discovered that this statement was used as a cover for the unaffiliated drug lords to carry on opium trade without being called as part of Taliban. Thus, money was the main cause and not what they had started with before.
Impact on India
Myanmar and Afghanistan being neighbouring countries to India, the political situation there impacts India too. One burning example is the influx of Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar into India as refugees. It is because they are facing violence and rapid accusations of being involved with terror outfits. This brings out the irony that while druglords continue to enjoy their position, the poor community is forced to migrate from their country. It is creating a huge pressure on the resources of India too. Similarly, in the case of Afghanistan, the big terror outfits connect with Pakistan to spread terror in India. This is all possible due to the huge drug cartel that has been created. Thus, the issue of terrorism can be best solved by targeting the drug cartels and prosecution of the drug lords. A stoppage of flow of funds will automatically stop the terrorist activities.
