Part three of a three-part series on drug trafficking in Central Asia Read Part I | Read Part II
The war on drugs in Afghanistan and Central Asia has raised questions about the broader societal impacts of western programs there. Local human rights advocates fear that social costs have been high, not only as a result of the trafficking and abuse of drugs, but also as a byproduct of the government counter-narcotics trafficking programs that affect questions of civil society, gender, ethnic relations and religious tolerance.
In countries where corruption and human rights abuses by government and law enforcement officials already engender widespread concern, the "war on drugs" only feeds these concerns when it is used for political ends-- for example, to crack down on political opposition, target particular religious and ethnic groups, limit civil liberties, and to tighten political control -- and for extracting greater financial gain through bribes and extortion.
According to human rights reports, drugs are typically planted on political opponents or religious figures to facilitate their arrest, and the courts rarely challenge police accounts or forced confessions, particularly in trials with political repercussions. While drug syndicates themselves may be ethnically diverse, anti-drug efforts also are believed to target particular ethnic and religious groups. Westerners and locals alike recall incidents when, for example, Uzbek TV showed repeated footage of drug raids at Uzbekistan's border that seemed to trigger, or justify, the subsequent roundup of illegal immigrants.
And under the pretext of stopping narcotics trafficking, customs officials and border guards frequently force people to pay enormous bribes, sometimes under threat of imprisonment, and/or to undergo humiliating body searches. As a rice trader from Batken put it, "The Uzbek police start searching us
Editor's note:
Nancy Lubin is President of JNA Associates, Inc. -- a research and consulting firm that works on assessments and projects concerning the NIS, especially Central Asia. She has lived, worked and traveled throughout Central Asia and the Caucasus for well over twenty five years -- as a Congressional staffer, University Professor, and now for JNA -- and consults for international donors, the media, major corporations and smaller, start up companies.
