Afghanistan's Drug Problem And Its Impact On Central Asia Security

Located in the core zone of the"Golden Crescent", an infamous drug area in the world, Afghanistan has had its drug production continuously grow since the 1970s. Entering the new century, along with the rapid growth of Afghan drug production, drug problem has become increasingly serious to Afghanistan internal security and international security, making Afghanistan a focus of various forces and powers once again. Since the"September 11th"incident, the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan has not only failed to reverse the deteriorating trend of drug, but made it more serious with the following main features: Afghanistan's economy relies heavily on narcotics revenue, witnessing an abnormal development trend, opium cultivation and drug-processing factories present a new trend, with political and economic networks consisting of all sectors of society in terms of drug production, processing and trafficking in Afghanistan as the basis of the past and present opium economy, storage of drugs is a trump card of Taliban and anti-government rebels, drug output lines are variable and it is very difficult to make cooperative intercept.Upon becoming independent, the five countries in Central Asia have been facing serious security problems. Central Asia drug contaminated area plays a dual role in the Afghan drug problem, namely, consumption and trafficking channels. With the spreading of Afghan drug in Central Asia, drug trade and a range of consequent problems have in fact seriously affected domestic political stability, economic development, rule of law, relations with neighboring countries and other aspects of the countries of Central Asia, and undermined the capacities of the governments of various countries to solve internal security problems to a certain extent.As a neighbor of Afghanistan, China has also been troubled by the Afghan drug problem. China's Xinjiang is close to"Golden Crescent"drug area Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Central Asian countries. In recent years, China's major drug smuggling cases solved include those flowing from Afghanistan through Central Asia, China's Xinjiang and China's east coast. According to a report of UNODC(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)2009 , 25% of drugs in China's heroin market came from Afghanistan. This trend ,combined with increased regional trade and migration (between china and Pakistan, Central Asia, Africa ,Gulf countries),may result in a growing market share for Afghan heroin in China in the years to come. Afghan drug problem has been a direct threat to security and the people's physical and mental health in western China, especially Xinjiang region. The problem has also caused great concern of the Chinese government and its relevant departments, which have taken certain measures to prevent the inflow of drugs from Afghanistan to China.