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Afghan drug barons flaunt their wealth

Declan Walsh

Garmser (Afghanistan): The smugglers' trail crosses salt-encrusted plains, scrabbly farmland and hundreds of blossoming poppy fields. Suddenly a fortress-like structure looms. The high-walled mansion belongs to Haji Adam, an opium smuggler, locals say. Tales of his wealth are legion.

``When he became sick he was flown straight to Germany,'' said a man in the next village, Garmser, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``Even helicopters have landed at his house,'' said another.

Yet like every Afghan drugs lord, Haji Adam has little to fear from the law. Since the western-led war on drugs started four years ago only two major smugglers have been arrested — Haji Baz Muhammad, who was extradited to the U.S. last October, and Bashir Noorzai, who was arrested in New York six months earlier. But the remainder are apparently untouchable. ``Many smugglers don't even bother hiding their wealth,'' said a British diplomat in Kabul.

The kingpins are wealthy as they are indiscreet, the apex of a $2.7 billion trade that has dominated the Afghan economy, poisoned its politics and employs one in 10 of the workforce. The smugglers are deeply rooted in Afghanistan's tribal society yet operate with the sophistication of a criminal jet-set. Some live in fortified rural mansions, defended by anti-aircraft guns and gangs of heavily armed clansmen.

Many strike deals during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Every year the drug lords effortlessly export 4,000 tonnes of opium across Afghanistan's borders, plugging into the Turkish, Iranian, Pakistani and Russian gangs that refine the drug into heroin for sale in Europe. But their strongest connections are at home.

Allegations of drug links have persistently dogged some of Afghanistan's most powerful figures, including several Governors, Ministers and the President's brother, Walid Karzai.

At least 17 of the 249 newly elected parliamentarians are smugglers, said analyst Andrew Wilder.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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