Most people think of the Taliban and al Qaeda as religious fanatics fighting an Islamic crusade from the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. But that doesn’t explain their astonishing comeback. Why, eight years since 9/11, does the CIA say they are better armed and better funded than ever?
Seeds of Terror will reshape the way you think about America’s enemies, revealing them more as Mafiosi than mujahidin who earn as much as a half a billion dollars every year off the opium trade and other criminal activity. Seeds of Terror traces their illicit activities from vast poppy fields in southern Afghanistan to heroin labs run by Taliban commanders, from drug convoys armed with Stinger missiles to the money launderers of Karachi and Dubai.
Author Gretchen Peters makes the case that we must cut off the Taliban and al Qaeda from their drug earnings if we ever want to beat them. This battle isn’t about ideology or religion. It’s about creating a new economy for Afghanistan – and breaking the cycle of crime, corruption and extremism that has gripped the region for decades.
Seeds of Terror is based on hundreds of interviews with Taliban fighters, smugglers, and law enforcement and intelligence agents. Their information is matched by classified documents shown to the author by frustrated U.S. officials – who fear the next 9/11 will be far deadlier than the first – and paid for with heroin profits.
Excerpt:
“Haji Juma Khan has two hundred houses,” said a skinny man outside the gate at a sprawling compound in Quetta in western Pakistan. “And this is one of them.”
I had been trying to track down South Asia’s number one drug trafficker, a smuggler linked to the Taliban, al Qaeda and senior corrupt Afghan officials, for more than two years. It hadn’t been easy. The man called HJK by counternarcotics agents was so shadowy that few had ever heard his name. Yet Juma Khan’s drug empire, which is believed to move as much as $1 billion worth of opium and heroin a year, formed the backbone of the Taliban, according to counternarcotics officials.
“He is the center of gravity for the Taliban drug trade,” a western official told me in 2006. “I find it strange he’s not a household name.” A 2007 assessment by Afghanistan’s spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, listed HJK as that country’s premier smuggler. He held the same ranking next door in Pakistan and in Iran, according to officials from those nations. “Juma Khan’s forces are terrorists. He pays them to protect his drugs,” said General Ali Shah Paktiawal, a senior Afghan police official. “Mullah Omar. Tahir Yuldeshev. Osama bin Laden. They all work for him.”
I found his Quetta residence down a dusty, nondescript alley lined with piles of rotting garbage. A white Taliban flag fluttered in the breeze outside the compound next door. It hardly seemed an auspicious address for the region’s most powerful kingpin. Another man appeared at the gate and introduced himself as Nematullah. “I am his clerk,” Nematullah told me, “Inside this house we all work for Juma Khan.”
I asked if the boss was in residence, and if I could interview him. “He is on the run and we haven’t seen him,” said Nematullah. “But please come inside and have a cup of tea.”
I briefly pondered his invitation, wondering whether I’d ever see my family again. Like the Burmese drug lord Khun Sa, who financed private armies and generated an estimated $200 million every year in gross profits, Haji Juma Khan’s immense wealth made him so powerful that he operated with virtual impunity across Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. When I first asked Kamat Sadat, Afghanistan’s former anti-drug police chief about him in 2004, he rolled his eyes. “I can’t find anybody in Kabul who wants me to arrest this guy,” he said.
Similar to Pablo Escobar, the Colombian kingpin who packed jetliners with cocaine and maintained a private zoo, HJK was notorious for his colossal drug shipments and his extravagant lifestyle. For a man who embedded himself with the Taliban and al Qaeda, HJK hardly behaved like a pious Muslim. “He has many sheep, but even more women,” a Kabul police official said. “Juma Khan keeps three wives and so many girlfriends,” reported an Afghan diplomat, unable to be more specific. “He loves music and dancing.” HJK maintained palatial residences in at least six different countries, and it was whispered that alcohol-drenched parties hosted by Russian and Turkish prostitutes extend late into the night whenever he was in residence.
Eventually, as I stood outside his gate, my curiosity got the better of me and I followed Nematullah inside.
Where has nation building ever worked?
Your ideas on the Drug War and immoral and insane.
I am a disabled AmVet.
This is prohibition WAR and it is immoral and insane.
You appear to be part of the problem not part of the solution, a prohibitionist.
If I am wrong about your ideas and you, please let me know; otherwise, I may have some information that might change your attitude, if you are open-minded.
Frankly, I doubt it.
STOP IT. END THE MADNESS NOW.
With all due respect, this (and your OpEd in today’s New York Times which is very similar) sounds like a pipe dream. Many, many things have to go right for this plan to work. Why not just buy the poppies (US, UN, WHO one or all) and turn them into the world’s morphine supply.
PS How about saying Email if what you really want in the space labelled “Mail” is an email address ?!
I just scanned your oped. Battling drugs will not win the war in Afghanistan or the tribal zone. Our allies traffic in drugs as well as the enemy. In fact, we might get more leverage if we contacted the smugglers and told them we would protect them ourselves if they join us, but crush them if they don’t, then back it up. Our problem is we have moral tinted lenses when looking at drugs here in the US, if we dropped that and simply saw the trade as the main source of power in the area we could deal with it more advantageously.
Of course this strategy would make us huge hypocrites when it comes to our stand on drugs in general, but I’d argue we are there already.
Matt
We have lost the war on drugs. A financially well off addact is only a problem to themselves. Someone who can’t afford heroin and has to resort to criminality is a problem. An addict who can’t afford his habit becomes the best salesman for heroin I can think of. Heroin should be given free to addicts. We can outbuy anybody for the crop in Afghanistan. Buying it and giving it for free doesn’t sound logical, but it is much cheaper than the war on drugs.
In my three years of intensive research into Afghanistan and the neo-Taliban insurgency, I recently came across your book. However, I have put the opium economy into a multi-staged framework in a similar fashion to Johnathan Goodhand in his book “War Economies in a Regional Context” and used theories from Naylor’s “The insurgent economy: Black market operations of guerrilla organizations.” I argue that the drug economy is only an ends to a means to the actual insurgents, and I have divided the various aggressors in Afghanistan into three distinct actors–drug smugglers (conflict entreprenuers), insurgents (those who wish to challenge the state), and militia (those who simply wish to harass and assault, not govern).
In my thesis, I argue that the opium economy is used to create a large scale, industrial informal economy in which the Afghan population becomes completely dependent upon once all influence from the formal economy and legitimate actor such as NGOs, the Afghan government, and ISAF forces. It is used to capture populations and make them dependent upon opium as a means to gain popular support.
The book is right on one thing–the opium economy and the insurgency is completely intertwined, and if we are to succeed, we must develop a comprehensive, “population-centric” counterinsurgency strategy that focuses on drugs in the rural areas. Any “enemy-centric” strategy is doomed to ultimately fail, and I hope your book raises to policy makers the true gravity of the opium problem in Afghanistan.
Hi Jared,
I am not sure why you think my approach is enemy-centric. In all of my recent briefings on this matter I have argued that the greatest challenge we face in AfPak is NOT the fact that NATO’s enemy is earning vast sums off of the drug trade and other criminal activities, but that the governments in the region are also deeply corrupt. I believe most discussion about corruption problems do not go far enough, because we focus only on drug corruption in the Afghan government. It’s an enormous problem, but so are levels of drug corruption in Pakistan and in some sectors of the Iranian government. I argue that extending rule of law to the border areas is the only exit strategy and the only moral policy towards the region.
I really very liked this post. Can I copy it to my blog? Thank you in advance. Sincerely
Gretchen, I fear for your life, because the perpetrators of 911 are the factions behind the fascist NWO which include the corrupt NAZI operatives within our CIA, pentagon, military and industrial complex…. a state within a state..aimed at destroying the US. 911 was too advanced for Al Qaida because it involved advanced thermitic devices and directed energy weapons to bring down the towers in a controlled demolition. The evidence now being uncovered confirms this fact.
Once you get to close to revealing that the same people are behind the global drug trade which finances the NWO’s black operations you will become a casuality of war. I praise your courage Gretchen and may God protect you all the way in you journey to expose the truth.
I tend to agree with everything you have to say.
What war? If the government truely wanted to stop the drugs entering the us, it would put 1/3 of the work forse out of a job in one year. So why win!
As I was watching the recent TV release by FRONTLINE PBS of the incredible film, “PAKISTAN: Children of the Taliban,” by filmmaker/correspondent, Ms. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the person I was sitting with asked me, “Who’s financing the Taliban?” Your work to answer this question in detail, Gretchen, is vital to our understanding. It is also vital to helping us begin to solve this problem. In 2006, I had a chance as a journalist to interview former Afghan Parliamentarian, Ms. Malalai Joya. As you know, she was pushed off the parliament for her honest and outspoken views. From the beginning she said that even AFTER “democracy” was put in place in Afghanistan the Mujahideen were still strong and active members of the Afghan Parliament. Joya even pointed them out during sessions in the chambers citing them individually. Because of her honesty, Malalai is now left with little protection (body guards for her and her family) since she was asked to step down from her elected position. This is something I have hoped the US State Dept would assist her with. My question for you Gretchen (for your interview with the Riz Khan show today)is this: In your opinion what is the 1st level of action the global communities must take to combat this deeply intrenched cartel? – Lys Anzia, Women News Network – WNN
Hi Lys, In the book I advocate a 9-point strategy that combines diplomacy, rural development, alternative livelihood projects and military and law enforcement campaigns to target drug traffickers at the points where they earn money. So far the international community has focused too much attention on the poppy fields, which not only turns the Afghan public against the NATO coalition, but also does nothing to reduce the amount traffickers earn, nor the insurgent and extremist groups they pay to protect the drug trade. The Taliban and other groups make some money taxing poppy farmers, I am not denying that, but the bulk of their earnings come from protecting drug shipments leaving the farm areas, and from taxing and running drug refineries along the border with Pakistan. Just this weekend, NATO forces overran a Taliban hideout in Helmand where they found 92 tons of drugs. There ought to be more operations like this. The international community should go after this side of the drug trade and leave the farmers alone. If there is no one there to buy the farmers’ opium, they will switch to other crops. Another key issue will be tracing flows of unregulated money. I believe a lot of drug money gets parked in real estate and unregulated stock markets in the region. I believe following the money trail will lead right to the people we have been looking for since 9/11.
Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting.
There is a better way to starve the Taliban and others of their drug profits than your 9-point plan: legalize it. From US Prohibition, to Columbia, Panama, & Mexico, prohibition has failed time after time after time after time. While use of poppy products for anything other than a genuine medical necessity is unquestionably bad, the simple fact of the matter is that people do it, have done it, and always will do it. We have not been able to stop it here in the US, so how on Earth do we think we can do it 7,000 miles away in a culture and place we don’t understand? It is simply impossible to stop. It is long past time for the world to recognize this fact and begin to legalize, regulate and control the trade and, to the extent possible, consumption of these substances. Absolutely anything else is tilting at windmills, except real people die – American servicemembers die – trying to implement an impossible policy. Give the brave servicemembers of the US, NATO, and Afghanistan a policy that can work. Otherwise, their sacrifices are wasted. I appreciate your efforts, but it ignores the lessons of history and is doomed to failure. Please cancel your appearance on the Daily Show unless you are prepared to support legalization, as your current proposal is not only “immoral”, but deadly.
Great interview with Jon Stewart. Sounds like you have one of the more sensible, long-term approaches to dealing with this problem.
I haven’t read your book, I just saw your interview with John Stewart.
Imagine a world where ALL DRUGS are legally obtainable. Prohibition has never worked. It simply funnels money to crooks like Al Queda. Going after the trafficers doesn’t work because there are always more people willing to traffic in drugs when billions of dollars are involved. It’s time to end the war on drugs. This will end the stream of funds going to the bad guys. Surely you can see that prohibition creates an underground economy.
Drug use is a health issue, not a legal issue. I’ve understood this since I became a hippy 40 years ago. We’ve got one of the highest rates of incarceration in the US and we still have an unlimited supply of drugs and sellers with plenty of guns, gold chains and fancy cars.
End the war. End all wars. Peace. Love. Imagine no religion. WAKE UP!!!
Gretchen I really admire your work awesome, I have a great idea for you to write a book as interesting as “Seeds Of Terror” and you will have a great time writing in a environment way better than the middle east, can you write me and let me know so I can write you back?.
Congratulations I think that we need reporters and authors like yourself in politics making decisions and plans so we have a better world, not this sold out traitors of men kind.
God Bless you
Cesar
I love your book, and I think that it is critical that people understand the personal responsibility they have for the fact that our enemies prosper. We need to be smarter about interdiction and we need to make treatment for opioid dependence far more accessible.
Here’s an idea for your next book – the role of cocaine addiction in the global economic crisis.
I think that if anyone took the time to investigate, they would discover that cocaine abuse is widespread in the mortgage financing industry, in banking, and in a range of financial investment institutions.
Gretchen,
Great interview on the Jon Stewart Daily Show ! I look forward to reading your book.
Jared
You’re just another tall good looking blond who claims to have spent 5 years in a region yet you have learned nothing about the facts and the ground realities of the region. Your lack of understanding of the region and its complexities are completely frightening. Why does the United States continue to produce so many pseudo intellectuals who claim to be experts at topics which they have very minuscule knowledge about? This is certainly not a problem in the United Kingdom.
i saw your recent appearance on the daily show a few days ago… you mentioned that you wanted to get the #*! who took out wtc on 9-11.. also that you would ‘follow the money ‘ re: taliban..drugwar etc. Follow the money on 9-11 (it’s been done) and you will see cia (suprise) all in there..bush daddy was meeting with bin laden family that day, evidence galore was destroyed in building 7 (conveniently) all was very suspect, AND no real evidence as to who was on planes and how buildings really fell..etc. and on and on i could go. Look in your own back yard and stop being naive .. or maybe stop your disinfo campaign for real.. but i think you may actually just be ignorant not an agent.. keep following money and challenging mainstream !
thank you sincerely…
Hi Gretchen, saw you on the daily show and thought you made your case quite well. You managed to keep Stewart on-topic for longer than most guests! I can understand your reasoning behind your ideas, as theories of dealing with drug problems and law enforcement are another issue altogether.
There are no good solutions to the problems in Afghanistan, they all have major problems. However I think an important aspect of any solution that has been ignored by everyone is to massively increase the involvement of the Arab world.
Why is it the west always trying to ‘help’ countries in this region. Arab nations stand to lose as much from the instability caused by the Taliban, and constant involvement of the west makes us look like invaders.
Bring in all the Arab states to help against the Taliban too, that is the real first step to dealing with the problem.
I am currently reading Jonathan Kwitny’s The Crimes of Patriots. While it is 20 years old, it does reveal some of the ways the CIA has involved itself in the drug trade, both for its own profit and for the furtherance of US foreign policy. I fear that unless these kinds of ties are broken, no strategy will reduce the heroin trade in Southeast Asia. As Kwitny demonstrates, severing these ties might involve disrupting the activities of some very powerful Americans.
I doubt if anyone in the US government at this time feels secure enough to tackle those people.
In answer to “JimBob” whose May 11th posting asked the question, “Where has nation building ever worked?” I offer the following answer: In Germany under the Marshall Plan and in Japan under the direction of General Douglas MacArthur at the end of World War II. Both of these efforts were enormously successful and Gen. MacArthur is credited with having drafted the new Japanese Constitution which remains in place to this day, a document which provided the Japanese people with far greater freedoms than they had ever experienced before.
Hello Gretchen
Can’t we (the USA) simply buy all the poppy crop Afghanistan generates each year? Wouldn’t that be an efficient way to cut off the cash flow to the bad guys?
We can out bid the traffickers and buy all of it. We could destroy it all…. or process it and sell morphine for legal and official medical / hospital use.
A crazy notion? Or a remote possibility. We could do this a a small part of other efforts.
It would stop the cash flow.
thanks for your honest good work and speaking about the cash flow…. which is always the best angle of attack. Not the farmers or the actual processed drugs or the users.
Is is all about the cash flow.
your new fan
dr dave in NYC
Yea.
But they grow wheat and rice and cheese better in those climates than poppies. And they have more access to oceans full of seafood.
What we should be asking is how did we ever manage to civilize the Swiss?
Great Journalistic reporting about te growing drug enterprise tat as truly hit not only close to home but in our own backyards. Keep up the good work; I’ll buy the book also.
Ms. Peters,
Unlike your “Daily Show” viewers and conspiracy theorists, I caught you on C-Span, Book TV, not that it matters. I found your presentation most interesting, new, and refreshing. Let me get the sucking up out of the way. I admire your bravery and the risk that you placed yourself under to get this book. If I were your husband, I would have kidnapped you until after my child was born, but anyway…
I do not believe there is a good solution to this problem. It is easy to say: just take out the poppy fields and stop the money before it gets started. All that will do is keep the farmers, the people of Afghanistan from making a living, hate we infidels more, and increase enrollment in the taliban, and make the America haters increase in number.
For those who say: Just buy the poppies, regulate it, tax it, etc. Sure, like the drug lords are going to let that happen. Spoken like someone that has never had the Russian equivalent of an AK47 pointed at their heads while hearing the words: you will sell to us!
The only way that this will get straitened out is through the money. And I do not see much hope for that. We, the people, can not even control our own government when it comes to that, much less some other gov.
Thank you for writing this most informative book and do not let your blog critics get you down.
Greg
Hi Gretchen,
Just watching your piece on Book TV.
Leaving aside moral arguments for the moment, what would the impact be on funding for the Taliban and Al Queda if the west were to legalize heroin and other money-making drugs.
The economics of cessation of hostilities against drug operations by taking the extreme money out of it could be most interesting to speculate on.
There may be howls of protest against thinking about this kind of approach but I think we should at least examine the economics of policing, drug enforcement, incarceration (minor offences), ruined lives, collateral damage etc.
Very much enjoyed your talk.
The Afghanistan opium issue needs to be at the forefront right now. It is astounding that it is not being discussed openly to any significant extent in the press, when it is cleary the number one obstacle to achieveing our golas there. The press is showing its lack of initiative by simply following issues put in front of them such as troop levels.
Opium is the elephant in the room.