Merging Wars

Afghanistan, Drugs and Terrorism

Amira Armenta

Martin Jelsma

Tom Blickman

Virginia Montañés

December 2001

With the new international context of the war against terrorism, the war on drugs moves centre stage as well. While drugs and terrorism are now shoved together to demonise the ‘evil’ enemy, reality is the victim. Blending the two wars to one seriously endangers the advances made to find a solution to the drug problem.

Download the report - Merging Wars (1.12 MB)

The connection between terrorism and the illicit drug trade has made the headlines after the terrorist attacks of September 11. In their public statements, leaders of the international alliance against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban repeatedly stressed that not only were innocent civilians terrorised, but poisoned with heroin as well. What is more, drug profits were also used to finance terrorist attacks.

Today, the two major producers of opium poppy and coca, Afghanistan and Colombia, are in the midst of shifting counterdrug strategies. We will look at the case of Afghanistan, analysing the UN International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) ill fated interventions. And while international attention is focused on Afghanistan, the linkage of drugs and terrorism is endangering the troubled peace talks between the government and the FARC guerrilla in Colombia.

Pages:

21pages

Edition:

Transnational Institute

Series:

Drugs & Conflict Debate Paper 3

Amira Armenta

Assistant researcher with focus on Colombia

Amira Armenta (Colombia/Netherlands) has a degree in Latin American history from the Université de Jussieu (Paris).

Martin Jelsma

TNI Drugs and Democracy Programme Coordinator

Martin Jelsma is a political scientist who has specialised in Latin America and international drugs policy. In 2005, he received the Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship, which stated that Jelsma "is increasingly recognized as one of, if not the, outstanding strategists in terms of how international institutions deal with drugs and drug policy."

In 1995 he initiated and has since co-oordinated TNI's Drugs & Democracy Programme which focuses on drugs and conflict studies with a focus on the Andean/Amazon region, Burma/Myanmar and Afghanistan, and on the analysis and dialogues around international drug policy making processes (with a special focus on the UN drug control system). Martin is a regular speaker at international policy conferences and advises various NGOs and government officials on developments in the drugs field. He is co-editor of the TNI Drugs & Conflict debate papers and the Drug Policy Briefing series.

Tom Blickman

Researcher, Drugs and Democracy Programme

Tom Blickman (1957) is an independant researcher and journalist, based in Amsterdam. Before coming to TNI he was active in the squatters and solidarity movements in Amsterdam. He worked for Bureau Jansen & Janssen, a research institute on intelligence and police matters. Now he specialises in International Drug Control Policy and Organised Crime as a researcher at TNI's Drugs & Democracy Programme.