 Cover of US edition | |
| Author | Joel Hafvenstein |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Georgianna Goodwin |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Afghanistan, opium trade, travel |
| Publisher | The Lyons Press |
Publication date | November 1, 2007 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 978-1-59921-131-2 |
| OCLC | 148949291 |
| 958.104/7 22 | |
| LC Class | DS371.4 .H32 2007 |
Opium Season is the true story of a young American in Afghanistan running an aid program to counter the opium trade. [1] [2] [3]
Joel Hafvenstein signed up for a year in Afghanistan in the heart of the country's opium trade, running an American-funded aid program to help thousands of opium poppy farmers make a legal living, and to win hearts and minds away from the former Taliban government. The author was soon caught up in the machinations of Helmand's drug trafficking warlords.
The economy of Afghanistan is listed as the 124th largest in the world in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and 102nd largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). With a population of around 41 million people, Afghanistan's GDP (nominal) stands at $14.58 billion as of 2021, amounting to a GDP per capita of $363.7. Its annual exports exceed $2 billion, with agricultural, mineral and textile products accounting for 94% of total exports. The nation's total external debt is $1.4 billion as of 2022.
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the dried latex of the Papaver somniferum plant; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical-grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brown powders sold illegally around the world as heroin are routinely diluted with cutting agents. Black tar heroin is a variable admixture of morphine derivatives—predominantly 6-MAM (6-monoacetylmorphine), which is the result of crude acetylation during clandestine production of street heroin. Heroin is used medically in several countries to relieve pain, such as during childbirth or a heart attack, as well as in opioid replacement therapy.
Opium is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine, and non-analgesic alkaloids such as papaverine and noscapine. The traditional, labor-intensive method of obtaining the latex is to scratch ("score") the immature seed pods (fruits) by hand; the latex leaks out and dries to a sticky yellowish residue that is later scraped off and dehydrated. The word meconium historically referred to related, weaker preparations made from other parts of the opium poppy or different species of poppies.
The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. The think tank Global Financial Integrity's Transnational Crime and the Developing World report estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between US$426 and US$652 billion in 2014 alone. With a world GDP of US$78 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally, and it remains very difficult for local authorities to reduce the rates of drug consumption.
Haley Joel Osment is an American actor. Beginning his career as a child actor, Osment's role in the comedy-drama film Forrest Gump (1994) won him a Young Artist Award. His breakthrough came with the psychological thriller film The Sixth Sense (1999), which won him a Saturn Award and earned him nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He achieved further success with the drama film Pay It Forward (2000), the science fiction film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) which won him a second Saturn Award, the comedy film Secondhand Lions (2003) which won him a Critics Choice Award, and the animated film The Jungle Book 2 (2003). He has voiced Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise since 2002, and voiced Vanitas in the same franchise from 2010 to 2020.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been accused of involvement in the trafficking of illicit drugs. Books and journalistic investigations on the subject that have received general notice include works by the historian Alfred McCoy, professor and diplomat Peter Dale Scott, journalists Gary Webb and Alexander Cockburn, and writer Larry Collins. These claims have led to investigations by the United States government, including hearings and reports by the United States House of Representatives, Senate, Department of Justice, and the CIA's Inspector General. The various investigations have generally not led to clear conclusions that the CIA itself has directly conducted drug trafficking operations, although there may have been instances of indirect complicity in the activities of others.
The Golden Triangle is a large, mountainous region of approximately 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) in northeastern Myanmar, northwestern Thailand and northern Laos, centered on the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers. The name "Golden Triangle" was coined by Marshall Green, a U.S. State Department official, in 1971 in a press conference on the opium trade. Today, the Thai side of the river confluence, Sop Ruak, has become a tourist attraction, with the House of Opium Museum, a Hall of Opium, and a Golden Triangle Park, and no opium cultivation.
Afghanistan has long had a history of opium poppy cultivation and harvest. As of 2021, Afghanistan's harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply. More land is used for opium in Afghanistan than is used for coca cultivation in Latin America. The country has been the world's leading illicit drug producer since 2001. In 2007, 93% of the non-pharmaceutical-grade opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. By 2019 Afghanistan still produced about 84% of the world market. This amounts to an export value of about US $4 billion, with a quarter being earned by opium farmers and the rest going to district officials, insurgents, warlords, and drug traffickers. In the seven years (1994–2000) prior to a Taliban opium ban, the Afghan farmers' share of gross income from opium was divided among 200,000 families.
Fariba Nawa is an Afghan-American freelance journalist who grew up in both Herat and Lashkargah in Afghanistan as well as Fremont, California. She was born in Herat, Afghanistan to a native Afghan family. Her family fled the country during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s. She is trilingual in Persian, Arabic, and English. She has done her master's degree in Middle Eastern Studies and Journalism from New York University. In 2000 she ventured into Taliban controlled Afghanistan by sneaking into the country through Iran. She lived and reported from Afghanistan from 2000 to 2007. Furthermore, She travelled extensively in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, and Germany, reporting on her experiences.
Reconstruction in Afghanistan refers to the efforts to improve Afghanistan's governance as well as physical buildings and infrastructure following the overthrow of the First Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan by the United States. These efforts involved various groups including supranational organizations, the Afghan government, the US government and other foreign governments, and civilians. These efforts also include training civil administrators, improving essential services and public safety, supporting civil society and self-determination, and promoting the rule of law and economic development.
The Frontier Corps, are a group of four paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's borders with Afghanistan and Iran. There are four Frontier Corps: FC KPK (North) and FC KPK (South) stationed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and FC Balochistan (North) and FC Balochistan (South) stationed in Balochistan province.
The following lists events that happened during 1936 in Afghanistan.
This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency related to transnational crime, including the illicit drug trade.
A skirmish occurred on the morning of February 10, 2003 outside Lejay, a small village in the northern, mountainous part of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The village is in the Baghran valley, and one of the few highways in Afghanistan passes through it. American intelligence analysts assert that the village is the focus of the opium trade.
The Wakhjir Pass, also spelled Vakhjir Pass, is a mountain pass in the Hindu Kush or Pamirs at the eastern end of the Wakhan Corridor, the only potentially navigable pass between Afghanistan and China in the modern era. It links Wakhan in Afghanistan with the Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County in Xinjiang, China, at an altitude of 4,923 metres (16,152 ft). The pass is not an official border crossing point. With a difference of 3.5 hours, the Afghanistan–China border has the sharpest official change of clocks of any international frontier. China refers to the pass as South Wakhjir Pass, as there is a northern pass on the Chinese side.
Diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and China were established in the 18th century, when Afghanistan was ruled by Ahmad Shah Durrani and China by Qianlong. But trade relations between these nations date back to at least the Han dynasty with the profitable Silk Road. Presently, China has an embassy in Kabul and Afghanistan has one in Beijing. The two countries share a 92 km (57 mi) border.
Marjah is an agricultural town in southern Afghanistan. It has been reported to have a population between 80,000 and 125,000, but some sources argue that its population is much smaller and is spread across 80 to 125 km2, an area larger than Cleveland or Washington, D.C. Another source described Marjah as "a cluster of villages" and "a community of 60,000 persons". The town sits in Nad Ali District of Helmand Province, southwest of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords, and One Woman's Journey Through Afghanistan is a 2011 book by Fariba Nawa. The author travels throughout Afghanistan to talk with individuals part of the opium production in Afghanistan, centering on women's role in it. Generally, reviewers felt that the book succeeded in its portrayal of Afghan culture and the impact of the opium trade on Afghans.
Frontier is a Canadian historical drama television series co-created by Rob Blackie and Peter Blackie, chronicling the North American fur trade in colonial Canada/Rupert's Land, sometime in the late 1700s or early 1800s. The series is co-produced by Discovery Canada, as the channel's first original scripted commission, and Netflix. The series premiered on November 6, 2016.
The 20-year-long War in Afghanistan had a number of significant impacts on Afghan society.